The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please
by LittleLissi
Summary: Follows Rose, Scorpius, James, Lily, Al, Roxy and all the other Weasleys or Potters through a year of Hogwarts which brings them heartache, love, sadness and laughter. Complete; sequel to be posted soon.
1. Just How It Is

Ok, so I did some research (I'm a bit weird like that) and I tried to find the birth dates of all the kids, but I swear, Google was rubbish! Therefore, I've had to make up some of the Weasley's kids ages. Please just tell me if they're wrong!

Also this is my first ever HP fic, so I would really appreciate reviews, both good and bad. :)

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Harry Potter. I didn't invent Harry Potter. I just love Harry Potter.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_**  
(Chapter One- Just How It Is)**

Lily had possibly never been so uncomfortable in her life. With her face pressed up against the window and her family squashing themselves against her she couldn't even lift up her arm to wave goodbye to her family, who were taking up most of Platform 9 and 3/4.

And although, for a second, all the children were together, waving, when the train pulled far enough out of the station Lily could breathe again as her cousins and siblings leant back to sit on the seats or leave the compartment.

It was true what the kids in Hogwarts said; the Weasleys and Potters really did dominate the school. They tripled every other family in the school easily; whereas in most families you just have your brother and sister, Lily had her two brothers and six cousins. If you were ever in the Gryffindor common room, you could always find a Weasley or a Potter. There would always be a red head in there, practically matching the colour of the furnishings.

There was a joke in Hogwarts that Lily found out on her first day of school; that the sorting hat didn't even think about sorting the Weasleys or Potters any more, it simply heard their surname and shouted Gryffindor. It was true though, actually; Lily swore the hat didn't even touch her head before announcing her house to the hall.

That was when all her problems started.

Because she was sure that, unlike the rest of her family, she didn't belong in Gryffindor. She wasn't brave like James, Fred or Albus, she was not quite as fiercely loyal as Hugo or Louis and she wasn't as passionate or courageous as Rose, Dominique or Roxanne. She was just plain, boring, shy Lily. She didn't fit in her family of Gryffindor and she didn't fit in the Potters.

She didn't even look like them, she was sure. Sure, she had the red hair, but she could never quite work out where she'd inherited her eyes from. And she wasn't as beautiful as the other Weasley girls had grown up to be. Before, she and Rose had a connection; they used to be "the ugly Weasleys" together, but after this summer even Rose was one of the prettiest girls in the school. It had almost happened overnight. One day she suddenly seemed to suit her long hair (the brown inherited from her Mother but the straightness from her Father) and out of nowhere she suddenly looked more feminine. And like that she was a "_Weasley girl_" and Lily was on her own.

Lily was always on her own.

Everyone said that, collectively, the Weasleys and Potters ruled the school. And as much as the rest of them wouldn't admit it, Lily knew it was true. Everyone loved them. Every one of them. And not just because of their surnames.

With James and Fred together trying to live up to their namesakes they'd become the most legendary pranksters in the school, although their parents claimed that they could never beat "that firework day".

Dominique was in seventh year with them, and her rebelling ways combined with her inherited Veela charm made everyone (although admittedly, the boys were certainly more obvious with their opinions) think she was best person to ever set foot in Hogwarts.

Roxy (or Roxanne), Fred's twin, and her best friend, Louisa Hall (who James had spent the entire four years of Lily's school life relentlessly asking out) were the first girls to ever be named joint Head Girls in the history of Hogwarts. This was because (as it said in the letter Lily's Grandma had read out to the other Weasley children as "inspiration" multiple times this Summer) it was "_Simply impossible to choose between the two most exemplary pupils Hogwarts has seen in it's last decade_." Combining that with the fact Roxanne was also dating the head boy, Craig Cunningham, she was easily the most influential person in the school.

Then there was Rose and Albus. Rose was the smartest girl in her year, her only competition being fellow Gryffindor and best friend Scorpius Malfoy. And Albus? Well he was the best Quidditch player Hogwarts had seen since their father. Better, actually, because he'd beaten his Dad's game wins back in fifth year and was now blazing his own record. He was undefeated. In fact, the only thing Albus really ever got passionate about was Quidditch, other than that he was pretty quiet, compared to his brother and older cousins.

Then there was Louis, the only Weasley representative in fifth year. He was the kind of person who didn't need to make an effort. He had everything handed to him, because he was good looking and his surname was Weasley. His only failing was Quidditch, which he claimed was a "_pointless sport anyway_". Rose and Lily's Aunt Hermione had always agreed with Louis on this subject, and together they had had many arguments with the rest of the Weasleys about the "_necessity of flying_", the longest of which had apparently lasted until 3am with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione still yelling at each other alone with the rest of the family sleeping on the sofas around them.

The youngsters, Lily and Hugo were the last Weasleys and Potters that were going to be in the school for a good few years. And while Hugo was managing to slowly carve himself a reputation and his own personality, Lily was sure that she was going to be the most disappointing Potter to ever enter Hogwarts. She wasn't smart, she wasn't pretty, she wasn't funny, she didn't like to cause trouble and sometimes she could be annoyingly shy. The only thing she could do even half right was play Quidditch, but James wouldn't let her even try to get into the team. She was sure that if she didn't have her cousin Hugo around, she'd be completely alone in this school, famous Father or no famous Father. She was so unimportant it was almost funny.

It was just who she was. Who she'd always be. And she was terrified that one day, maybe today, the Sorting Hat wouldn't sing a song, but would instead announce that Lily Potter didn't belong in Gryffindor. She didn't belong in her family.

She didn't belong anywhere.

...

"Can't believe it's our last year." Fred sighed from the seat opposite James.

"No me neither." He replied, shaking his head. Seven years in Hogwarts had gone far faster than he wanted it to.  
"What kind of trouble are we going to cause this year then, eh?"

James had wondered when this would come up. He folded his arms and looked up at his cousin. "We're... um, not."

Louis, next to him, instantly stopped eating his packed lunch and turned to look at James in awe. He'd always worshipped him, not that James was complaining. It wasn't like he wasn't used to being adored.

"You're not pranking this year?"  
"No."  
"Why?" Fred whined.

James bit his lip. He didn't want to tell the truth; that he was stopping his trouble-causing ways all for some girl. "Just... because it's our last year. We have to go out and get jobs next year and I don't want McGonagall to write us bad recommendation letters."

"But that's a year away!"

"Besides, I think the whole pranking thing's getting old and... boring." He lied.  
Fred stared, his mouth slightly open. "Boring? Wha... Wait. This isn't about recommendation letters is it?" His mouth started to turn into a satisfied smile.

James should've known that Fred would work him out. Cousins, roommates and best mates; there was nothing Fred and James could hide from each other.

"This is about Louisa! Oh, James let it go!"  
"No, listen, I have a plan this time-"  
"A plan? So you've given up on repeatedly asking her out until she accidentally says yes?"

"Yes. I have actually. You see, I talked to Dad."

"And what exactly did The Great Harry Potter have to say?" Fred joked.

James sighed, and explained the conversation he had had with his Father that summer. Having finally had enough of his repeated rejections, he'd turned to his Dad and told him the story of him and Louisa. She seemed to hate him; she thought he was nothing but some sort of womanising trouble-maker, but James couldn't stop himself falling for her harder and harder each year. And what had The Magnificent Harry Potter done when his first born son had told him about his unsuccessful love life? He had laughed. He had laughed so hard that James wondered if Albus had turned his hair green again while he wasn't looking.

_"What's so funny?" He asked, checking his hair was still the same old black in the window._

_"Just... you reminded me of someone."  
"Who? You and Mum?"  
"No. My parents."_

_James stared back. He knew hardly anything about his Grandparents, considering the fact they died when his Dad was a baby. And he'd always assumed that his Dad knew just as little._

_"How?"_

_"Because my Dad was exactly the same. He spent all his time causing trouble, and the few minutes he had spare he spent asking out my Mum."  
"How do you know?" James asked, only realising how insensitive he sounded after it'd come out of his mouth. _

_His Dad's eyes seemed to glaze over for a second, and then he sighed quickly as if trying to bring himself back into the room. He always did it, whenever anyone mentioned his parents or the war or Voldemort. James was used to it. All the Potter children were. And the Weasley children, come to think of it._

_"I saw it in a memory. Well, I saw it in a few memories actually."  
"Well, I mean, they must've got together eventually, otherwise you wouldn't be here. So what happened?"  
"I don't know."  
"Oh well that's really useful Dad!" James said sarcastically._

_"I've never known, actually. I've just guessed. I think Mum realised she loved Dad, and he stopped being such a prat and started treating her like an actual human being. And then it just went on from there."  
"So, what? I should stop having fun and turn all serious and boring. Basically morph into Al... and then I might be able to get Louisa to take me seriously?"  
"Number one, your brother is not boring." James scoffed. "And number two, you don't have to stop having fun. Just, try and make Louisa see the other side of you; the one that's not just pratting about and asking her out all the time."  
_"...So that's what I'm doing."  
"So basically you're turning into a boring sod just for one girl? There are hundreds of girls out there-"  
"Says the guy who's had the same girlfriend since fifth year!"

Fred laughed. "Ok, good point well made. So you're seriously not pranking at all anymore?"  
"Only a little bit."

"God." Fred stood up. "Hope she's worth it in the end, J."

"She will be. Where're you going?"  
"Going to find Dom. She'll definitely want a legendary last year." He headed out of the carriage and James watch him leave. He wanted a legendary last year as well, but in different ways. It was ok for Fred; he got his dream girl two years ago. He could waste his time all he liked.

"It's so weird how similar you and Louisa are to Dad's parents." James heard from next to him. He turned around to see Lily sat there, looking up at him through her big brown eyes.

"They're our grandparents, Lils, not 'Dad's parents'". And how long have you been sat there?"

"Ever since we left London."

James stared down at her guiltily. He hadn't noticed she was there. She really needed to make more noise sometimes. "Where's Hugo?"  
"Gone to find... someone."  
"Why didn't you go too?"  
"I don't know them." Lily shrugged.

"That doesn't matter. Get to know them, Lils."

She really was painfully shy; the horrible part of James sometimes wondered if she was really related to them.

She just shook her head and sighed. "It's fine. He should be back soon."

James nodded. "I'll stay here with you then."  
"No it's fine. The prefects meeting'll finish in a minute, so Louisa'll be out in the train. You want to talk to her, right? Go."  
James nodded and stood up, towering over Lily. He turned to look at Louis, raising his eyebrows at him in a way that he hoped would mean "Stay here with Lily" before leaving the compartment, sighing as he shut the door behind him.

His sister was a worry. She'd always been the quiet one, but James had just always been sure that one day she would find her voice. But no, it hadn't happened, and James was beginning to wonder it never would.

"Potter, you need to be changing into your robes soon." He turned and saw Louisa looking at him expectantly. She really was beautiful. On a whole new level, even when she was scowling at him.

"Hey Louisa."

And just like that, all worries about his little sister had been knocked out of his head, and replaced with thoughts of someone else.


	2. It’s Best Kept Hidden

Thank you so much to everyone who read, and to everyone who reviewed! :) It means so much, especially since it's my first HP fic! Ok, so in reply to ilfreitas, this is definitely a Rose/Scorpius story as this chapter will prove. Lily and James and the rest of the Weasleys and Potters are kind of background characters, because otherwise I'm worried it might be boring. Hope you like this part, keep reviewing/alerting/reading! Thankyou! :D

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own/ didn't write Harry Potter. I'm not that talented. Dammit. :)

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Two- It's Best Kept Hidden)**

"So, what's your goal for this year then, Rose?"

Rose blinked back for a second, sliding out of the thoughts she always had when she passed the War Memorial monument.

"Oh, erm, well I don't know." She shrugged, before looking up and smirking at Scorpius, who sat opposite her in the carriage. "I've already beat you in OWL results, so I have to find something else to do better than you. Maybe I'll try out for the Quidditch team? Take your place as keeper." Rose tried to keep a straight face, but instantly burst out laughing at the idea of her playing on the Quidditch team, as did Scorpius and Albus. "Or, maybe I'll just carry on doing better than you in class."

"You only did better than me in one subject." Scorpius sulked.

"Yep, and my Dad was oh-so-pleased."

"Herbology's a stupid subject anyway." He mumbled, crossing his arms.

"Aww, of course it is!" Rose joked, pulling a face.

"Oh shut it you two!" Albus whined. "Scorpius, I'm so sorry you only got an E in Herbology, but believe me it's far better than my P!"

"Sorry, Al." Rose mumbled. She and Scorp often picked on each other for grades that anyone else would have been exceptionally proud of. It wasn't really their fault though; they'd had it drummed into them ever since that first day of school when Rose had been told to "_make sure she beat him in every test._" Ironically, he'd been told exactly the same thing by his father. It was as if they were expected to become enemies, but instead became best friends. The competitiveness was still there though, the only part of their enemy status that had remained.

When the carriage (which Rose still swore was pulled by itself much to the debate of her Uncle Harry) pulled up outside of school she, Scorp and Al all hopped out of it and headed straight into the Great Hall, into the seats at the Gryffindor table that had been saved for them by the rest of the Weasley-Potter clan.

"Hey Scorpius, good summer?" Fred asked, almost instantly, from opposite them.

"Yeah, bit boring but that's what I get for being an only child."

Fred laughed slightly, then turned his attention back to his girlfriend, Anna Wood, whom he had one arm around.

"What about you Hugo, how was your summer?" Scorpius asked, turning away from Fred and Anna who were, to be honest, far too close for this time of day.  
"Ha!" Rose laughed. "He didn't even do anything; he spent the whole time outside 'perfecting his beating skills'!"

"Which is apparently far less productive than sitting inside and reading books for exams that you've already done!" Her brother bit back, glaring slightly at Rose from across the table.

"That's not all I did!"

"Oh yes, I forgot the time that you actually went out to Diagon Alley. But wait, wasn't that to help Uncle George with his accounting? Wow, you rebel!"

"Shut it, you!" Rose hissed.

"Good comeback." Hugo replied satisfactorily, before turning back to his conversation with Lily who was sat silently on the other side of him. Rose thought that he had to be the most annoying person on the planet, with the only competition coming from their father every now and again.

"Wow, so clearly you had a fun summer!" Scorp said sarcastically.

Rose looked at him scathingly for a second, trying to think of something witty to say back, but then they were interrupted by the sound of the doors banging open, and First Years pouring inside.

Moments later, without saying a word, Scorpius and Rose had both placed a Sickle on the table in front of them.

"Normal rules apply?" Scorp whispered.

"Of course."

"You're not seriously playing your stupid 'guess the house' game again are you?" Al hissed from behind Rose.

"Yep, and you're keeping score again!" Rose replied, turning to smile sweetly at Albus, who scowled back. He would never admit it, but he secretly liked being the one with all the power in the annual game they played, and Rose knew it.

As the sorting hat sang it's song, Rose found herself wondering why she played this game with Scorpius every year, even though she would just inevitably lose. You see, she always looked at the people, and decided what they were by just hearing their names or seeing their hair colour. Scorp on the other hand? It was weird; he was able to see inside their minds before even the sorting hat could. He'd always just known where everyone belonged. Maybe he was a Legilimens? (Rose had only just thought of that...) No, it was far more likely that he knew the unusual cases because he was an unusual case. A pure-blood Malfoy could never fit in Gryffindor, but somehow Scorpius belonged there. He fit with the red and gold common room, and it was impossible to imagine him sharing a dorm with anyone other than Albus Potter.

And that's why he always won this game.

And Rose always lost this game.

Yet she played it every year regardless, and she wondered why.

Deep down, she knew why; because every time he guessed someone right his eyes lit up a little bit, and every time a First Year was sorted into Gryffindor he would smile at them welcomingly with the kind of smile that made Rose's heart beat just that little bit faster. And because every now and again, he would turn around so fast to tell Al he'd won that his arm would brush up against Rose's, and her heart sped up so much that she wondered if she was going to be able to breathe again in the next minute.

Ok, so she was in love with her best friend. It was ridiculous. She was Rose Weasley; she didn't fall in love. And she knew from experience that she certainly didn't fall out of love. Because it had always been Scorp. No matter how she tried to change it.

But he didn't feel the same way. She could bet her life on it. In fact, she could bet her whole family's lives on it. Because he told her, without even having to say anything.

It was back in fourth year, on Christmas Day. Over Christmas Rose was one of the only Weasleys around, with only Roxy and Fred to keep her company. But she and Hugo had a tradition of getting up as early as they could, and apparently that didn't change whether she was at home or not. So she'd gotten up, opened her presents, wrapped herself in her dressing gown and gone downstairs, despite it being only 5 in the morning.

_So she was alone on Christmas Morning, in an empty Gryffindor Common Room. It was very possible that there wasn't a more depressing situation to be in. She was so lonely she even missed Hugo. _

_But then Scorp came in, with his blonde hair all messed up and his eyes still slightly bleary. And Rose smiled, forgetting everything that was depressing about the last second._

"_Hey, what are you doing up?"_

"_Couldn't sleep." He shrugged. "What about you?" _

"_I don't know. I guess I always get up at this time on Christmas."_

"_Oh yeah, Merry Christmas." He laughed slightly, walking over and sitting next to her by the fireplace._

"_I'm g__uessing you haven't opened your presents yet then?"_

"_No. Did you get anything nice?"_

"_Not really. A jumper?"  
"Ah, the legendary Weasley jumper!" Scorp laughed slightly again, keeping his voice down to a whisper, even though they both knew that they didn't need to; they couldn't be heard upstairs._

_Rose nodded, looking down into the fire._

"_Hey, you ok?" He asked, placing his hand on hers. She moved her eyes slightly to check if he really had done it, or if it had been an accident, but no; his hand was firmly over hers, grasping her fingers. _

"_Yeah... Yeah I'm alright I just miss home."_

_Scorp smiled sadly. "I never miss home, is that weird? I guess this place is home to me."_

"_I don't miss the house, I just miss the people."_

"_Ah, see if I had to, I'd miss my house, not the people in it."_

_Rose laughed quietly._

"_I'm kind of glad you're here with me though." Scorp sighed. "Christmas with just you and me could be the best yet."_

_Rose looked up at him, into his big grey eyes, and he just blinked back._

"_I'm glad I- Ow!" Rose felt a poke on the back of her head, but turned to see nothing._

_She looked up, to see what could've poked her, too see Fred's enchanted mistletoe. And out of the corner of her eye she saw Scorp looking up too._

_They both laughed awkwardly, for which they got yet another poke in the back of the head._

"_Jeez." Scorp whined, rubbing his head._

"_Yeah, it's going to keep doing that." Rose sighed. "Fred enchanted it, mainly to get Anna to kiss him. It keeps poking or slapping until the two people under it... you know."_

"_That's good magic." Was all Scorp said. _

_They fell into a silence which was awkward, and thick with Rose's thoughts. _

"_So we have to... kiss?"_

_Rose just nodded, biting her lip._

_And then before she really knew it, he bent his head down and kissed her softly on the lips._

_Her first kiss. Was it really sad that it was in fourth year? It didn't matter to her. Because it was Scorp. The boy who had been both her obsession and her platonic best friend since the second day of first year. And he was kissing her. _

_She was so dazed, that she didn't know how long it lasted. It could've been minutes, but it also could've been seconds. _

_She truly wished she'd paid more attention when it was happening, instead of wondering how long they'd been sat there. All too soon he broke away from her and sighed, their noses still only inches from each other's._

"_I'm... going to go, try and get some more sleep." He said awkwardly moments later, standing up and shoving his hands into his pockets. _

_Rose stared at him, and then just nodded, too stunned to speak._

_She watched as he walked away, wondering if he was going to say anything else to her or just leave it like that. And she was so sure he was just going to leave, until he stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the boy's dorms and turned and looked at her. _

_He just looked into her eyes._

"_Er, we won't tell anyone about this, yeah?" he stuttered. "After all, it was just the mistletoe." He sighed, still staring into her eyes. _

_She didn't reply; she just carried on looking at him._

"_It was just the mistletoe...right Rose?"_

_She just nodded, scared that if she opened her mouth she might scream at him. Or worse; she might burst into tears. _

_She saved crying until she heard his door close upstairs._

They'd never spoke about it, her and Scorpius. Even all these years later. The next morning they had just acted like nothing ever happened.

And that was how she knew he didn't like her back. "_It was just the mistletoe_." No feelings, no love, not even impulse. Just a plant.

"Hey Rose, you in there?" Scorp smiled at her, waving his hand in front of her eyes. She just nodded. "Last one. What do you think?"

She didn't even look up; judging by how much she'd been concentrating she'd lost anyway.

"Gryffindor?"

"Seriously Rose? Hufflepuff!"

Sure enough, the hat shouted out Hufflepuff just as Scorp had said it would.

"I win." Scorp smiled, taking the sickles off the table and putting them in his pocket.

"Yeah, this time." Rose joked.

"Well, you only have one more year to play!"

Rose was about to correct him; they had to have far more years left in Hogwarts, surely? But he was right. They were sixth years now. Prefects.

And Rose had wasted all six years wishing for one boy. It was ridiculous.

And it was then she decided; this year, no matter what, she was going to get over Scorpius Malfoy. Even if it broke her heart.


	3. What You Don't Know

Hey guys. So, thankyou very much for the reviews I got, they are so appreciated and I would love more as they completely inspire me to keep writing! :) Once again this part goes slightly down the road of James, but it's definately a Rose/Scorpius story at heart! Hope you enjoy. :) x

_**Disclaimer: **__Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter and I didn't invent it. I also don't own the characters. All the HP - related stuff I own is: 6 dvds, 1 vhs, tickets to the new theme park and Rupert Grint's autograph. (Ok, really I just wanted to boast slightly about my present, but I really don't own HP!)__

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Three- What You Don't Know)**

James took his place on the sofa by the fire. Although the common room was packed, his half of the sofa was still empty. No one sat in his seat. It was an unspoken rule that he hadn't even had to make.

He heard calls of "Hey James" from around him, to which he turned around and smiled, saying "Hi" back and asking about people's summer.

But he didn't listen to their replies.

His head was somewhere else. His head was in next year.

Next year he wouldn't sit on these sofas. Next year he wouldn't be anywhere near Hogwarts. He didn't know where he'd be next year. Wherever he was, Louisa wouldn't be anywhere nearby. Next year, his chances with Louisa would be well and truly gone.

And the best bit about next year? Next year he had to go back to being "_Harry Potter's son_". Wherever he went, whatever he did, he'd just be recognised for his surname. And it had taken a whole two years for him to fully lose that title in Hogwarts; it wasn't until his Second Year that he really had his own reputation. And next year, he'd be right back to the beginning. It would be as if Hogwarts had never happened.

"Hey J, you seem a bit away with the fairies."

Fred threw himself down on the seat on the sofa next to him, pulling Anna down with him onto his lap. It was another unspoken rule; no one sat in Fred Weasley's seat either.

Dominique sat on the arm rest of the chair next to James, flicking her blonde hair back over her shoulder. It was times like this James was glad he was immune to her inherited Veela genes, as the first year boy walking by her stared for just a little too long and smacked into the fireplace. Fred openly laughed, while James just looked at him sympathetically. Dom didn't even notice.

"Where's Roxy?" James asked.

"Gone to the Head's dorms. Did you know heads had their own dorms?"

James nodded. "They're on the map."

"I never noticed them before."

Truthfully, James had never notice the Head's dorms on the Marauders Map before either, until earlier in the evening when he'd been looking for Louisa on it.

"Wait a sec, Roxy's sharing a dorm with Craig?" Dom asked.

James nodded, having seen that Craig Cunningham was also in the dorm with Louisa and Roxanne earlier.

"Oooh, poor Louisa! Stuck with those two every night."

Fred gagged. "Seriously, we lay this groundwork down a long time ago, Dom. And you were there. No talking about my twin doing... that."

"Or doing him." James added, earning a smack from Fred.

The evening continued from then almost as if they'd never left Hogwarts. They talked lessons, shared information about the Slytherins and planned the next Quidditch win; as if they'd never been away.

Dom and Anna were the first two to go to bed after an hour or two, looking forward to having the dorm to themselves without Roxy and Louisa to share it with. Not that they didn't like Roxy and Louisa, they just liked the space.

Fred left a few minutes after Anna, after explaining how "brilliant" it was to be reunited with her after she spent the summer in Australia with her father.

James just stayed in the common room, in the same seat, watching as it slowly emptied.

It wasn't long until it was just him, Malfoy, Rose, Al and a group of first years planning on staying up all night to "rebel."

"Why're you still awake?" James asked Al. "It's way past your bedtime!"

"Oh, get lost Sirius!" Al replied. James missed the days when Albus didn't have comebacks, and instead was just terrified of his older and wiser brother. "Anyway, not that it's any of your business but we're going to bed now anyway."

"We? Since when did you and Malfoy become an official couple?" James joked. Rose laughed, as did Malfoy, but Al just glared at his brother before stomping up the stairs. He never did get any of James' jokes, mainly because he tended to be the subject of them.

"Night Rose." Malfoy said quietly to Rose from the bottom of the boys' stairs, to which he received a smile.

James assumed Rose would also go up to bed, but instead she threw herself down in Fred's seat, which she was allowed to sit in now he was safely away from the common room area.

"How're you doing, James?" Rose asked.

"I feel like I want to leave right now, but also stay here for the rest of my life. Know what I mean?"

"So basically you want what you can't have, as always." Rose joked.

It was weird, but out of all of his cousins James found Rose the easiest to talk to. Maybe it was because she was the least complicated, or at least appeared that way.

"Yeah, you got that right. What about you, what've you done on your first day back?"

"Not much." She shrugged. "I lost the house game to Scorp."

"Ah yes, how is Malfoy?"

"He hates that you know."

James turned and looked at her confusedly. "Hates what?"

"Being called 'Malfoy'"

"Why?"

"Same reason we hate being called 'Potter' or 'Weasley'. It just makes him feel like a miniature of his father, and not his own person."

"Fair enough." James shrugged. "So what, should I call him 'Scorp' from now on?"

"No. He hates it."

"You do it."

"Yeah, well I'm special." She stuck out her tongue. "Just, call him Scorpius. It's his name."

James nodded, and they both sighed. They didn't really need to say anything after all; they'd both stayed up for their own reasons, not to chat to the other.

"Why do you call him 'Malfoy' anyway?"

James was, at that exact moment, asking himself that question in his head. But he didn't know the answer. He wondered if maybe, it was himself subconsciously reminding Albus who he was friends with. Or maybe it was just his own instincts. Either way, he'd always done. And for the last two years he'd done it with a little bit of hatred.

It wasn't that he hated Scorpius. But he hated his surname. Or what it meant, after what he'd found out in the summer before fifth year. Because that summer, after Albus had asked to stay at Malfoy's house, their father had collected all the Potter children in the living room and told them that they needed to talk...

_"Dad, you haven't answered my question yet!" Al whined, crossing his arms next to James on the sofa. Their father sat opposite them on the other sofa, with one arm over Lily's shoulder._

_"Shhhh!" James hissed. He was old enough to know that when his father "needed to talk" to them, he tended to tell them another story about the war, which he never got bored of._

_"Ok kids, I don't want you to behave any differently around anyone because of what I'm about to tell you. Do you understand that?"_

_They had nodded, James' eyes wide as he wondered what he was about to be told. _

_"Especially you, Albus."_

_"O...k." Al said, unfolding his arms nervously._

_"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you going to Malfoy Manor."_

_"Why?" Al moaned, stopping when James glared at him._

_"I'm sure you already know of the Malfoy's family history."_

_"They were death eaters." Lily said simply. As a twelve year old, she always had a way of adding some sort of simplicity to the war._

_"Well, yes." Their father replied, going quiet for a second like he always did when he talked about the past. "And you know that your Aunt and Uncle and I went looking for the horcruxes."_

_"Pieces of Voldemort's soul." Lily added in, as if somehow her brothers had forgotten._

_"Right, well, I've never told you this before but-"_

_"Why?" James asked, unable to control himself._

"_Why what?" Al said impatiently._

"_Why are you only just telling us, Dad?"_

_"Well, because I didn't want to ruin any friendships. Anyway, I've told you before that during the war we were taken by a group of snatchers-"_

_"Who?" Lily asked._

_"People who were looking for muggles that were on the run or anyone else wanted by the ministry."_

_"Ok." _

_"Well, we got kidnapped, and taken to the death eater headquarters." James shifted in his seat. He'd already heard all of this before. "Death Eater headquarters was Malfoy Manor." _

_Suddenly James' younger siblings had no questions to ask. They just stared. _

_"M-Malfoy's house was death eater headquarters?" James asked quietly, Al sighing from his side. _

_"During the war, yes."_

_"So all those things that happened at 'Death Eater headquarters'; Dobby dying, Aunt Hermione being tortured… That was at Scorpius' house?_" _James demanded._

_Their Dad nodded before looking away from them, and James sighed. He'd grown up feeling so proud of everything his father had done, and so proud that his father had been so brave. But it was times like this when James saw how scarred all the survivors of the war were, and then the pride he felt for his father was replaced with sympathy._

_"Wait, Dobby was killed at Malfoy Manor?" Al asked, raising his head._

_Their father nodded again. _

_"Were any of the Malfoys there?"_

_"Draco was."_

_"Scorpius' Dad? Scorpius' Dad saw Aunt Hermione being tortured at his house and didn't do anything?"_

It had taken Al a while to get over it. He didn't talk to Malfoy for the rest of the summer, but they went back to normal once school started again. Lily told Hugo, James told Fred, Fred told Roxy, Roxy told Dom, Dom told Louis... No one told Rose. Everyone decided never to tell Rose. Because as collected as she seemed, they knew she was fragile. She cried more than anyone else at stories of the war, and went quiet when anybody even mentioned it nowadays. It would do her no good to tell her about her best friend's family, just make everything harder.

"I don't know. It's his name isn't it?" James eventually decided to reply, weakly.

Rose shrugged. "Yeah I guess. But he's nothing like his family. He's in Gryffindor after all."

"Yeah, I guess." James smiled.

The room went quiet again for a minute, both of them wrapped up in their thoughts, but then James heard whispering coming from the "rebel" first years.

"Is that James Potter?" One of them whispered.

"Merlin, it is!"

"Who's she?"

"Rose Weasley! Hermione and Ron's son."

"Oh, Ron and Hermione are so cute together. In the Daily Prophet's pictures they're always so sweet-"

"Yeah, but my Mum says they didn't even get on when they were in Hogwarts. Apparently they spent more time arguing than..."

Rose and James just smiled at each other knowingly. They were so used to being gossiped about that it was now a good source of comedy to them.

"Wow, it's so weird that they're actually real. All I've done is read about them in books."

Oh yeah, there were books about them too. They'd counted 36 biographies of their parents, 49 history books based purely on their parents in the war and someone had even written a book about James. All unofficial, of course.

"I wonder if they'd sign my potions book?"

"No!" Rose shouted.

No autographs. From any Weasleys or Potters. It was another rule. Except that one was official after he and Fred had tried to sell signed text books at the end of second year.

The first years laughed awkwardly, turning around.

And then they heard the portrait hole slam shut.

"You should all be in bed!"

Louisa was standing by the entrance to the common room, crossing her arms and glaring at James.

The first years collected their books and ran away so fast that James wondered if they'd somehow apparated.

"Potter. Why am I not surprised? But Rose, I really expected better from you, it's gone midnight!"

"Sorry Lou." Rose said hurriedly, practically running to the stairs. "Night James."

"Night, Rose." James replied, still sitting in his sofa.

"Corrupting your cousin now are we?" Louisa practically hissed, tilting her head.

"Lighten up, it's not my fault she stayed and talked to me."

"And why are you down here and not surrounded by your cronies?" She asked, walking towards his sofa and staring down at him.

"They're not my 'cronies', they're my friends. And I don't know, I was just staying down here to... think."

"James Potter, think? I doubt it."

James groaned, standing up.

"People can change." he told her.

"Not people like you."

"'People like me?' What do you mean by that?"

Louisa just shook her head. "You should be in bed."

James resisted suggesting that she could go to bed with him. "Maybe you should give me a chance to change."

Louisa just stared back. "You should be in bed." She repeated.

"Give me a chance."

"Bed."

"Give me a chance." He repeated, slightly kinder this time.

"Bed."

"Chance?"

They both fell silent, and James just stared into her bright blue eyes. She was simply the most beautiful girl on the planet. Her eyes were the colour of those pictures of the Caribbean Sea on muggle postcards, and her hair was such a perfect shade between black and brown, unchanged since the first day he'd seen her at school. It fell into perfect curls, which James was sure that every girl in school was, or should, be jealous of. But the best bit about Louisa? Her smile. Granted, she didn't actually smile at him much, more glare, but he'd seen her laughing with Roxy and there was simply nothing more breathtaking than her smile. Although her scowl was pretty cute too.

"I'm going to bed." James smiled, before heading up the stairs.

He was just round the corner of the steps when he could swear he heard a whisper of "Good night Potter."

He could sleep happy now.


	4. What Am I Missing?

Yay, thankyou for all the really good reviews, they're all really inspiring. Also a really huge thankyou to anyone who has favourited or alerted this story. Keep doing that too ;) :P Tell me whatever you think even if it's negative. Although, not too negative. :) :L  
The flashbacks kind of stop now, but I'm not sure if I should introduce some of them in there. Please tell me your opinions if you have them?

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Harry Potter, or create it... I wish. :)

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Four- What Am I Missing?)**

Lily was first down to breakfast on the first morning back.

She was the first down most days, when it wasn't the weekend. On the weekends she slept for as long as possible.

Almost everyone else joined her pretty soon, so she wasn't alone for as long as she sometimes was.

It was weird, but they all ate together at the beginning of the term. However, Lily knew that it would only be a few weeks before they all started to drift apart, leaving just her. And Hugo, if she was lucky. So she was making the most of it.

The only Weasleys or Potters missing today were Roxanne and Albus. And Scorpius, since he sat with them all in the Hall. But they were always late. Roxy on the other hand? It was unlike her not to be down for breakfast.

As Lily thought this, ironically, Roxanne and Craig took their seats opposite her. Roxy, as always, looked completely beautiful. She'd perfectly inherited her Mother's beauty, and looked nothing like her twin Fred, who was the spitting image of his father (and therefore, his namesake). While Fred was pale, ginger and freckly, Roxanne was almost the colour of caramel, and had wild black afro-like hair. If you stood the two of them next to each other no one would know they were twins, but if you spoke to them somehow you would instantly know they were "_The Second Weasley Twins_". This morning Roxy had pulled her hair back into a messy bun, but still looked beautiful. Lily could never perfect a messy bun; she always looked like she'd just got out of bed.

Craig Cunningham was gorgeous too, and he and Roxy looked perfect together. He was pale, and thin yet muscular, with short brown hair which was the opposite of James and Albus' as it didn't seem to stick up everywhere. As he sat down he put his arm around Roxy, and she turned and smiled back at him.

"You look tired, Rose." Roxy told her, after finally looking away from Craig's eyes a minute or two later. Rose just mumbled in reply. Somehow, after this summer, she managed to look beautiful even when she was tired. And her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail as well, leaving only her fringe hanging down. Dominique's long blonde hair was tied in messy plaits. Lily couldn't help but wonder when everyone learnt the art of messy hair, and why she wasn't there.

"You do too James."

"Yeah, and so do you Roxy! I noticed you'd sent Louisa out on night duty; stayed up all night did we?" James was tired, and therefore grumpy, this morning.

In reply, Roxanne and Craig both just looked down embarrassedly.

"Ew." Fred said, dropping his toast onto his plate and pushing it away.

"Oh Fred, would you please grow up! You're so immature." Dom complained.  
"It's not just me!" Fred protested.

Roxy and Dom just raised their eyebrows in response.

"Ok, fine! Remember that banging you two heard from upstairs that you thought was a ghost? That was me and Anna!" He smiled satisfactorily, and from her position from her table Lily could see that James and Fred shared a private high five under the table. Lily was glad, on Fred's behalf, that Anna had gone over to see her sister on the Ravenclaw table, and so didn't hear this outburst; otherwise Fred wouldn't have had a girlfriend for much longer. Anna was private like that, while Fred simply wasn't.

"EW!" Both girls reacted in exactly the same way as Fred had, dropping their food onto their plates.

"See." Fred smirked.

"See what?" Al asked, sitting down at the table next to Rose, Scorpius sitting on the other side. "Hey Rose." Once again Rose just grumbled in reply. "Wow James, you look rough."  
"Shut it, Severus." James hissed back. "Scorpius, pass the butter."

Only Lily would've noticed it, but Rose looked up from her food and smiled at James after he said 'Scorpius', while Scorpius himself just looked stunned before doing what he was asked.

"So, what delights has everyone else got while I have a free this morning?" Fred asked, smiling.

"I've got a free too." James practically hissed.

"Oh, well, that'll be... fun?" Fred said, raising his eyebrows at Lily, making her laugh a little.

"We've got History of Magic with Hufflepuff, right Lils?" Hugo asked. He wasn't much of a morning person, like his sister, and he threw himself back into his food after speaking.

"Yeah." Lily nodded.  
"You can't fail History of Magic in fourth year." Roxanne smiled.

"I did." Louis shrugged.

"Well you _shouldn't_ fail it in fourth year."  
"Why?" Lily asked.

"It's all about our parents. Literally '_and then Harry Potter found the stone, but he wouldn't have done it if Ron Weasley hadn't won the giant chess game or Hermione Granger hadn't worked out the safe potion'_ blah blah blah..." Al told her.

"Oh." Lily wasn't sure she'd like a year of listening to what her amazing parents had done.

"What about you Al, what have you got?"  
"Arithmancy."  
"Rose?"  
"Ancient Runes."

"Ouch." Fred joked, earning glares from Rose. "Wow, you and James are so much fun today!" he said sarcastically.

Roxy stood up. "You know, we should be going to lessons now."  
"Oh, so the head girl has had her say-!" Fred joked.

"Up. Now." Roxy said, threateningly.

"I have a free, I don't have to go!" Fred whined.

"You're meant to study in frees! Guys come on breakfast is over; it's lessons now."

All the Weasleys and Potters groaned, none more than Rose, as they stood up. Lily could have sworn she even heard Scorpius moan for a second, which was a surprise considering he was usually comparatively quiet. Meanwhile Craig just stood next to Roxy and looked at her adoringly.

Lily and Hugo shrugged at each other and stood up.

"Bye guys." Lily waved at her family, and not one of them waved back.

After running upstairs to pick up her books, she and Hugo walked to History. As they walked, Lily took her textbook out and started to flick through it. Pages and pages of it were covered with pictures of her parents and her family.

"Hugo, do you ever worry that we'll never live up to our parents?"

Hugo bit his lip. "Honestly? Always. And not just our parents. Aunts, Uncles, Brothers and Sisters..."  
"Doesn't it scare you? That you'll just be this huge disappointment?"  
"Yeah. But I'm hoping that as long as I don't disappoint myself then at least one person'll be happy with how I turn out."  
"That's true."  
"Lils, don't be scared to live, just 'cause you're a Potter."

Lily nodded, and took what he said to heart. She wasn't going to be scared anymore. Or at least, she was going to try.

...

"God, Rose was in a bad mood, right?"  
Scorpius just shrugged back at Albus, reading his text book.

"I think she was up with James last night, not sure what they were talking about though."  
Scorpius shrugged again.

Al then gave up on all ideas of conversations with him and leant back, eavesdropping on the group behind them; Dave Finnigan and his "boys" always said interesting things. He could just copy Scorpius' answers later anyway.

He heard his cousins' names from the boys behind them, but he was used to hearing gossip about them; especially about his brother.

"Dominique Weasley looks even hotter since the summer, who knew that was possible?" Al just rolled his eyes, too used to hearing gossip about his Veela cousin. Scorpius leaned back next to him, having finished the lesson's work already, only ten minutes into the lesson.

"Is she single?"  
"Yeah, always single but never alone."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows at Al, and Al just shrugged back. The truth was that they were right; Dom was a bit weird with guys like that. She just didn't need to make an effort, and got bored far too easily. Some people who knew her less well would call her slag or a slut, but somehow it just wasn't what she was; it was hardly her fault if no one could keep her interested.

"Roxanne's still going out with Head Boy, right?"  
"Yep, according to what I've heard."  
"Damn, she's hot too."  
"There's just something about the Weasley girls."

Al just rolled his eyes at Scorpius.

"Even Rose has got fitter over the summer."

Then Al saw Scorpius do something weird out of the corner of his eyes; he watched as his best friend pulled his wand out of his wand in his pocket. He ignored it, assuming that he was just bored of the lesson, and was going to try and set paper on fire under the table again.

"Oh yeah, I noticed that." One of Dave's friends replied. "But, would you really go there?"  
"Nah, she's bloody annoying! 'Please sir, can we have extra work over the summer even though our OWLs are over?' Bloody hell..."

"Yeah, but still, you'd date her for the body, right?"

"Oh hell yeah." Dave replied. "Just mess around with her every now and again. Anyone who sleeps with a Weasley'd get written down in some history book somewhere!"

"So you reckon Rose hasn't done it before, then?"  
"Judging by what she used to look like, no. But it won't stay like that for long if I'm anything to do with it."

Almost as if he somehow knew it would happen, Al watched as Scorpius flicked his wand slightly, without saying a word, pointing it behind him.

And then Al heard retching from behind him.

"Professor! Professor! Dave's just been sick. Eugh, he threw up slugs!"  
Professor Wallwork simply looked up from her book, told Dave to go to the Hospital Wing and told his friends to clean up. She then looked around the classroom. "You should all still be working! If you've finished just turn to the next page."

Albus sat forward in his chair, but still stared at Scorpius, who had turned his page and gone back to his work as if nothing had happened.

"Scorpius, what the hell was that?" he whispered, aware that the classroom had gone comparatively quiet to what it had been before Dave had been cursed.

Scorpius looked back at him, his blonde fringe falling over his grey eyes. "I dunno, Rose is like my sister. It just... annoyed me I guess, hearing those guys talk about her like she was nothing." He shrugged, and went back to his work, as if his explanation was enough.  
"Well in case you haven't noticed I actually am related to her, but you don't see me cursing every guy who talks like that about my cousins; I would've got every guy in school by now!" Al hissed back. "You're acting like James!"

"I wasn't, I was just trying to protect her!"  
"Yeah, by cursing someone. Just like James does. Look, none of those guys will ever get within an inch of Rose. She's not stupid. Everyone talks like that Scorpius; she's just another girl to them."

Scorpius looked down. "I just don't want her to get hurt."  
"Why would she? She's like Roxy: she'd only ever go for the most perfect guys in the world."

Scorpius nodded. He seemed almost upset by something Al had said, but Al didn't know what. Scorpius got like this sometimes; he would just go quiet for a while. Al had never been able to work out why.

"And even then the most perfect guy would have to survive James and Fred."

Scorpius laughed slightly, still moody about something.

"You don't have to worry; Rose'll probably never be stupid enough to get a jackass boyfriend, and if she does then us lot get to tear him to pieces." Al smiled, hoping to have cheered up his friend.

He wasn't sure if it would work. Scorpius was always possessive of Rose. Silly things like when she talked to a boy, he would ask Al if he thought there was "_anything going on_" between them. Or if she got partnered with a different guy to Scorpius in Herbology, he would always go all quiet and moody and stop fully paying attention to his work. That was why he only got an E in his Herbology OWL; Rose was partnered with Andy Phillips on the day of the practical exam.

Al just figured it was because Scorpius was an only child; so Rose was the nearest thing he had to a sister. After all, Al would probably be equally as weird if Lily was talking to a guy other than Hugo, not that it would ever happen.

"Yeah, I feel pretty sorry for any guy that ever falls for Rose." Al said finally before stealing Scorpius' parchment and copying his work.

He heard Scorpius laughing in agreement.

But he didn't see the worried look that had now crossed his face.


	5. Centre Of Attention

Thank you so so much for reviews! They mean so much to me and please keep them coming! Thankyouu!

_**Disclaimer: **__Unfortunately (and I really mean that word) I didn't invent Harry Potter or any of these characters. That's all JK Rowling! :)

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Five-Centre of Attention) **

"So," James said loudly, looking around the common room. "First day of school. Any good?"

The Weasleys just laughed vaguely as a reply, none of them really paying attention. Rose was doing her homework already, Fred was wrapped up - literally - in Anna, Roxy and Craig were curled up by the fire, Al was playing chess with Scorpius, Louis was talking to his best friend Jake Thomas, Dom was flirting with a sixth year and even Lily and Hugo seemed to be having their own conversation. James could've asked if they'd seen the hippogriff out of the window and probably gotten the same reply.

But James knew his family well, and he knew what would get their attention. Well, most of them.

"So, I'm holding Quidditch trials this weekend."  
Everyone, with the exception of Rose and Louis (the losers) looked up at him. "Really, that soon?" Fred asked, having unwinded himself from his girlfriend.  
"Well yeah, I want to be prepared for the first match. I'd bet anything we get Slytherin."  
There were murmurs of agreement from his cousins.

"So, what's the team looking like?" Fred asked. Although an avid follower of Quidditch, he didn't play; he was commentator for matches.

"Well, although I obviously have to hold trials in case there's any new talent-"  
"Or you just want to show off your power." Roxy interrupted.

"Oh yeah like you never abuse your head's power. Wasn't the rule of shared dorms that you don't actually mix...?" Dom teased, receiving groaning from Fred.

"Back to the topic." James said sternly. "Well, as much as I'd love to, I'm never going to get a better seeker than Al so-"  
"Was that a compliment?" Al joked, feigning shock.

"So," James continued loudly, ignoring his annoying brother. He noticed that, as well as his family, he'd gained a slight crowd around his sofa of Gryffindors listening to the Quidditch gossip. "Probably him as seeker. You still have to trial, mind. And Anna if you're not too busy with your tongue down Fred's throat you'll do for one Chaser. Malfoy - I mean Scorpius - if you play like you did last year you're in as Keeper. So basically, I have to find Beaters now Annabel and Sam are gone, and a new Chaser. Hugo, you're going up for Beater right?"  
"Yeah. I was thinking about it." Hugo smiled.

"I'm thinking about Chaser." Jake shrugged.

"Why?" Louis asked him, rhetorically. He and Rose shared a smile for a second, before Rose went back to her work.

"Well Dave, Gemma, Alice and Laura have already asked about trials so you guys have competition."

"I'm persuading Edward to go up for Chaser." Dom said, slightly dreamily. James had no idea who Edward was and, if he was honest, he couldn't be bothered to ask. It wasn't like this guy was going to be around for long.

"I really think we've got a good chance of winning this year." Fred smiled, his arm wrapped around Anna. Lucky for him Anna was just as obsessed with Quidditch as he was, if not more. After all, as the daughter of Oliver Wood, Ex-England Keeper, she had to be.

"It's so pointlessly competitive." Rose said simply, turning the page of her book.

"Don't you start!" Al commanded, turning around.  
"What? I just think it would be far more productive if the houses competed in something beneficial like charms, as opposed to a pointless, masculine sport." She sounded amazingly like her mother.  
"Masculine?" Anna asked, raising her eyebrows at Rose.

"Sorry, babe, but face facts, Quidditch isn't exactly a woman's sport is it?" Fred told his girlfriend.  
"Don't let my Mum hear you say that!" James warned him.

"Well, no, I don't mean girls can't play it," he began, turning to see Anna looking at him daringly. "I just mean that they're not quite as natural... I mean, Quidditch was made for... Oh, bloody hell." He said, rolling his eyes. Anna seemed to forgive him, as within the blink of an eye they were back to being joined at the lips.

"Right…" Dominique said awkwardly, standing from her seat on the arm rest of the sofa. "Well I'm off to bed."

"This early?"

"Look, I know you don't believe in beauty sleep but-"  
"Dom's right actually, we should all be going to bed soon." Roxy said, getting up and smiling, holding Craig's hand tightly who was looking at her like a puppy dog, which made James feel rather ill.

"Yeah you're right." Rose closed her book and stood up.

"Oh, Rose please don't say you're going to start being like them and going to bed before the sun's even down!" Fred whined.  
"She needs her beauty sleep!" Dom smiled.

"No! No, Rose, please don't say we're losing you to beauty sleep!" James joked.

"Look we've all heard the wolf whistles and the sleazy comments you've gotten today for some reason." Fred began. Hugo rolled his eyes, and James couldn't help but notice that Al and Scorpius both squirmed uncomfortably for a second. It was understandable though; James had already heard comments from his year about the "_New hot Weasley_" but was trying to ignore it with all his might after the week long detentions he'd got last year for cursing someone who winked at Dom. He had a feeling though, that it was going to be more difficult with Lily and Rose; they weren't just his cousins, they were his younger cousins. He decided almost at their birth that any guy that went within a foot of them wasn't going to last for long. He and Fred agreed on this topic; however Fred more sneaky and seemed much more upfront and uncaring about the attention his little cousin was receiving whilst secretly hating it. "But you don't need to turn into Roxy or Dom with their beauty sleep!"  
"I'm not!" Rose said indignantly. "In case you haven't noticed, we have lessons tomorrow and we need to start getting back into a routine!"

Everyone just rolled their eyes, so Rose huffed away up to her room.

Then, within the next five minutes, the common room seemed to clear so fast it was as if someone had let of a dungbomb. Anna disappeared with Dom, Roxy and Craig left and Rose stomped away. James wasn't completely sure when, but Louis and Hugo left as well so all that was left was Al, Scorpius, Lily, Fred and James of the Weasleys/Potter clan.

"I think I'm off to bed too." Al said, standing up.

"When did everyone start going to bed so early?" James whined to Fred.

"No idea. They're all boring."  
There was a slam from the portrait hole behind them, and then a voice rang through the common room. "Excuse me Scorpius?"

James turned quickly to see Louisa looking over his head at Malfoy, her brown hair tumbling over her shoulders. He smiled at the sight of her; he hadn't caught a glimpse of her all day long.

"I hope it's not too late, but Professor McGonagall has asked that you go and see her in her office immediately."

James turned back to look up at Scorpius, his mouth slightly open. He knew he looked gormless; he was too shocked to care.

"As if someone else is in trouble before you James!" Fred commented.

"And you just said they were boring!" James joked back.

Malfoy nodded nervously, and headed out of the portrait hole without a word.  
"What's he done?"

Surprisingly, Lily was the one who asked it. James had forgotten she was even there.

"I don't know." Louisa shrugged.

They turned to Al.

"Well I don't know!" Al whined. "He cursed someone in class today but McGonagall can't have found out-"  
"Oooh Rookie mistake!" Fred shook his head.

"Eh?"  
"McGonagall can trace spells done in the school. No one knows how, but she can."

"So if someone's cursed, and that person reports it, she can work out who it was."  
"Seriously?"

"Yeah." James shrugged, remembering the time he'd charmed the Slytherin broomsticks to fly away from their owners, and how much trouble he'd got into for it. "So who did Malfoy curse?" James then told himself off for calling him Malfoy again.  
"No one." Al lied. "Anyways, off to bed."

"I think your brother's worried about his boyfriend." Fred joked as Al went up to bed without saying anything else.

James laughed, but then noticed Louisa glaring at him so stopped abruptly.

They sat silently for a second; James, Louisa, Lily and Fred. Fred picked at the side of the sofa, Louisa seemed to stare into space and Lily shuffled her foot.

"James, please can I try out for Quidditch?"

Lily's voice was tiny, and nervous. James looked up at his little sister from the floor. She was biting her lip nervously and wiggling in her seat.

"No, Lily." James replied simply, before looking back into the fire and avoiding her eyes.

Even though he wasn't looking at her, guilt still hit him quickly.

She didn't reply, instead she just looked at him through the silence.

"I'm off to bed." Fred said quickly, almost running to the stairs. He always avoided awkward situations.

Lily didn't ask why. James kind of wished she would; he had a good reason. But instead she just blinked at him, before leaving.

And the bit that really killed him was that he could hear her sobs echoing down the staircase as she ran up to her dorm.

"James, why-?"  
"Leave it, Louisa." James shook his head. For once he didn't want to look or speak to her, even though she almost seemed to care for a second.

When he got into his dorm again, he regretted it. Part of him wanted to run back down the stairs and explain it all to Louisa, just for the sake of conversation.

But he couldn't. He'd missed his chance because he was distracted by Lily. Bloody little sisters.


	6. Making Things Difficult

_Thankyou all so much for the reviews. I'm trying very hard to update more regularly, and I've now got about 15 parts written so the updating will probably become much more frequent providing your reviews continue to inspire me as much as they do! _

_**Disclaimer- **__I don't own Harry Potter. Goddamn it!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Six-Making Things Difficult) **

"Right, ok. I know you told me not to ask, but where's Scorp?" Rose stomped her foot slightly as she walked, looking up at Al worriedly. "He's been gone every evening, and he's not here now either and it's Saturday!"

Al sighed, "Rose, he's my best friend-"

"Al, he's my best friend too!" she nudged him hard in the ribs. "What's going on with him?"

Al sighed. He really hated Rose for being so caring sometimes. If 'caring' was really the word; right now it seemed more like 'nosy'. His mind whirred; Scorpius had begged him to not tell her, saying something about freaking her out or making her angry. Al still thought this was all lies; it was really because he didn't want her to know that she'd beaten him with her perfect school record.

She was going to find out eventually, though, he justified with himself. She wouldn't let this go; she would run around the school and ask everyone and anyone soon, when she gave up on Al. She may as well hear it from him, he thought, then Al can stop keeping secrets. He was rubbish at keeping secrets.

"Ok, you can't tell him I told you." Al began.

Rose nodded enthusiastically. She'd been nagging for days and Al could tell she was glad it had paid off.

Al stopped walking, and turned to face her. "He's in detention."

Rose's mouth opened slightly. "Detention? No, he's got a completely clean school record-"

"Yeah well, not anymore."

Her head shook slowly. "Why? What did he get detention for?"

"Yeah..." Al began to walk again, but she ran after him and he could feel her eyes burning into him. "This is the bit that will really freak you out."

"Why?"

"He cursed Dave Finnigan because he was talking about you."

"Dave was talking about me so Scorp cursed him?" Rose repeated slowly. Al wondered if this was the first time he had felt smarter than her.

"Well, he wasn't really talking. It was Dave..."

"Oh." Rose nodded, as if understanding suddenly hit her. "So Scorp cursed him? For talking like… that?"

"Yeah. And I know I'm your cousin and it's mean to annoy me but, I mean, it's Dave. He always talks like that about you girls and Scorpius and I normally just ignore it." Al kicked the stone in front of him. "It was weird. He went all... James-ish."

Rose nodded, biting her lip. "Well, he doesn't have any sisters, so maybe I'm like his substitute. You know, to be all protective over? Like James is?"

"Yeah that's what he said-" Rose nodded. Al was about to open his mouth to speak again, but turned to see that she'd stopped walking and was staring above her with her eyes wide.

He decided not to say anything to her, and minutes later they walked up to the castle in silence.

He didn't know what she was thinking, but he turned a little to see that her eyes were teary. He knew he shouldn't have told her.

...

So far Rose's plan to get over Scorp was going well. Until about half an hour ago when Al had told her what he'd done. Then she'd been right back where she started.

Because the idea of Scorp getting all protective over her made her smile. She could imagine that his grey eyes would turn slightly darker when he got angry. And he would've gripped his wand so tight that his skin would've gone even whiter than normal.

To put it simply, Scorp was hot when he was mad. And he was even hotter when he was mad over her.

Why had he stopped Dave talking about her? She had wondered for a moment if maybe, just maybe, he liked her back. But then she heard Al say he just liked her as a sister, and the memory of the bloody mistletoe returned to her.

When she had walked into the great hall and looked around, she'd realised that, no matter what a nice image it may be, for as long as Scorp was cursing every guy that said anything about her everyone was going to be too scared to ask her out.

So the getting-over-Scorpius plan had been ruined by Scorpius Malfoy himself. And he was just sitting and eating his dessert without even realising how hard he might be making life for some people.

"Rose, you ok?"

It was all his fault. His fault for being so beautiful and perfect and completely ignorant of how hard he was to get over. It was all infuriating.

"Ro-ose?" Al said in a sing-song voice. "Anyone in?"

"What?" Rose replied, widening her eyes and realising that some of her anger at the Malfoy situation was seeping into her voice.

"Woah, calm down. Just checking you're in, you seem kind of away with the house-elves."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rose replied, stabbing her fork into the treacle tart. The more she thought of him the angrier she got.

She was so distracted by thoughts of screaming and Malfoy, that she barely registered when Fred and James came running into the hall and practically launched themselves at the remaining food before it started to disappear.

"You're late." Roxy told them.

"Oh wow, well aren't you observant?" James replied, piling food onto his plate.

"Where've you-?"

Fred held up his hand, as if to tell his sister not to talk as they both began shovelling the food from their plates into their mouths.

"Where've they been?" Roxanne asked Dom, who was sat next to her.

"Quidditch trials." Dom replied, looking warily at them as if worried they were going to explode with the large amounts of food they were eating so fast.

Rose just groaned. If they started talking Quidditch now then she would jump up and scream.

"Never- missing- lunch- again." Fred told the few people left at lunch between mouthfuls of food.

"Not- even- for- Quidditch." James agreed, reaching out for more food.

He had just began piling more food onto his plate when the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, and the food began to disappear. Fred and James' whines echoed around the hall as they tried to eat the remaining scraps of food on their plate before they too disappeared.

"SO hungry!" Fred moaned.

"Why don't you just go to the kitchens?" Dom suggested incredulously.

"We would, if it wasn't for Aunt Hermione's new law that all elves must have '_recreational time_'. They're all on the Quidditch Pitch right now."

"Really, house elves playing Quidditch, eh?" Al asked.

"You won't believe it until you've seen it."

"Wait, maybe there's still food under your bed from last Christmas!" James said excitedly, turning to Fred. Both of them stood up and ran out of the hall without another word.

"It's amazing what guys will do for food." Dom shrugged, standing up slowly with Roxy at her side.

"Pathetic." Rose grumbled, her arms crossed.

"What's up with you?" Scorp asked, looking worried.

She involuntarily glared at him, then realised she was doing so and stood up quickly. They headed out of the hall, walking back towards the common room in no rush.

Whilst walking down the corridor, Rose saw Dave Finnigan and his friends sat in one of the alcoves, and looked up to see Scorp glaring slightly at them. She shook her head angrily, thinking that if it wasn't for Scorp being all weird she could've gone out with Dave. Not that she'd want to, but she'd like the freedom.

And it was during this thought that she heard it. And it wasn't that she wasn't utterly disgusted at being called "Fit" and referred to as simply "Weasley", but she forced herself to shrug it off and ignore it. But Dave, instead of giving up, spoke louder as if she hadn't heard.

"Want to see my wand, Weasley?"

There was a bang. That was the first she knew that Scorp had turned around. That was the first she knew that he'd cursed Dave openly in the middle of the corridor with people watching. She glanced at Al, who looked as if he'd been petrified, then to where Dave had been.

A ferret scrambled on the floor in place of Dave, the other pupils around looking stunned.

"Turn him back!" Rose yelled, the anger in her voice echoing around the silent hall.

Silently, Malfoy flicked his wand and Dave stood in front of them once again.

After stuttering for a second, Dave spoke loudly. "You're crazy Malfoy, just like your father." He then turned around and began to walk in the direction of McGonagall's tower, his friends following without another word.

Everyone else just stared at them; her, Malfoy and Al, as if they were some sort of show to watch.

Malfoy stood stock still for a second, then ran towards the nearest door. Rose considered leaving him, but then saw Al following him out into the grounds. She couldn't have Al alone with Scorpius, pretending what had just happened was ok. It wasn't ok.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she shouted, Scorp and Al turning to look at her mid walk as if shocked she was speaking.

"I-I-" Scorp just stuttered in response.

"Well?"

"Rose, did you hear what they said!" Scorp replied loudly, trying to justify himself. I just made Rose madder.

"Yes. And I've heard them say it about hundreds of girls! I don't see you turning Dave into a ferret every time they talk about anyone else!"

"I was looking out for you-"

"I don't need you to!"

Scorp stared, and then looked down at his feet. It was as if Al wasn't even there, he just looked between the two of them as if watching that muggle tennis game. "But-"

"No, Malfoy! No 'buts'. I don't need you to look after me or protect me! That's what James and Al and _everyone else_ do; you don't have to do it too."

"Rose I-"

"I don't care." She shrugged. "Don't ruin your perfect school reputation over me. Don't curse people for me. Don't protect me. That's not you."

"Rose-"

"Just, leave me alone." She sighed, turning around and walking back to the castle.

She was out of control. She was saying things she didn't mean. He was making her crazy; she cursed him to herself as she stomped through the corridor.

She hated him. She hated him for stopping her getting over him. She hated him for embarrassing her. She hated him for acting so childishly, like any other boy would. She hated him for still looking so gorgeous even when she was so mad at him. She hated him for being so oblivious to her feelings for so many years. She hated him for kissing her just because of the bloody mistletoe. She hated him.

She hated him.

She hated him, because she loved him so much.


	7. Look What You've Done

Thankyou so much for the reviews! It means so so much!  
Here's the update extra quick for you as a thank you for the reviews!

_**Disclaimer: **__By some cruel twist of fate, I am not JK Rowling - and therefore didn't invent HP- and am instead a Engligh All-Girls School student who is slowly getting more and more stressed about her exams! :)

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_**  
(Chapter Seven-Look What You've Done) **

James and Fred stomped down the stairs loudly, both of them so full that they found it a struggle to move.

However, James didn't feel bad; they hadn't only eaten. James was holding the newly written Gryffindor Quidditch Team list, which was, admittedly, slightly covered in food.

"Oh my god!" Anna exclaimed, jumping up on the sofa almost the second she saw them.

"Yes, yes this is the Quidditch team list, but just because you have connections doesn't mean you get to see it before everyone else-" Fred told her, authoritatively.

"No, not 'oh my god' at that! Oh my god at what you missed!"  
"What did we miss?" James asked casually, heading over to his seat on the sofa and throwing himself down. Nothing that interesting could've happened.

"Oh, you missed something huge!" Dom replied, teasingly.

"What?" Fred asked, slightly desperately, now sitting next to James. Fred was one of those people who couldn't stand not knowing all the latest gossip. He was practically a girl in that sense.

"Something bi-ig!" Anna replied.

"What?" James asked, bored.

"Well…" Dom began, but then stopped when the portrait hole slammed shut. Silence seemed to ripple over the common room between the few Gryffindors that remained.

Rose stomped in, and then threw herself down on the nearby sofa. Dom and Anna, who seemed to be the only Weasleys who knew what was going on, looked at her expectantly, while Lily, James, Fred and Hugo just looked at her confusedly.

"You can carry on; I know what you were talking about!" Rose huffed.

"We- we weren't." Dom replied.

"What's the gossip?" James asked, only realising how completely tactless that was when Rose glared at him.

"Well er-" Dom stuttered.

"Scorpius cursed Dave in the middle of the corridor. There, now continue to gossip about it!" Rose yelled, not just at the Weasleys, but at all of the remaining Gryffindors, who quickly broke out into conversation awkwardly.

"What? Malfoy- I mean Scorpius? Really?"

"That's what I heard." Dom replied, warily looking at Rose.  
"What curse did he use?" Fred asked, slightly excitedly until Rose glared at him.

"He turned Dave into a ferret."  
James and Fred both laughed, silently agreeing to learn how to do that spell and then use it on Al or Hugo at some point at The Burrow.

"Why?" Lily asked simply.

"I- I don't know." Dom shrugged, turning to Rose.

"Well I don't know either!" She replied frustratedly, pulling her knees up to her chest on the sofa.

Dom raised her eyebrows, in a way that showed she didn't believe Rose at all.

Rose replied in a mumble that James swore was mermish, and impossible to decipher as words, however Dom gasped slightly.

"Seriously? He just said you were fit?"  
"Yeah, and something to do with a wand."  
"And Scorpius cursed him? He sounds like James!"  
"Oi!"

"Sorry, but it's true." James nodded, resignedly. "I don't know Rose, maybe he likes you?"  
James and Fred just laughed. Rose and Malfoy? Their parents would have a heart attack.

"No, like you said, he acted like James. I'm like Scorp's sister, I guess. He just went all crazy and protective and… pathetic!"

No one said anything, so James pulled out a quill and started amending the Quidditch team according to the latest revelations.

"What you changing?" Fred asked.

"Replacing Malfoy with McGlaggen." He replied, scribbling Scorpius out. "Can't have Scorpius cursing team members, and Dave was a pretty good beater so he can't go."

Fred nodded as if he agreed with him, but Anna tilted her head. "But Scorpius is a brilliant keeper, better than Gemma McGlaggen anyway."  
"Yeah, but it seems like the Malfoy genes are finally coming out in him, so we can't keep him on the team." James replied exactly what he was thinking, and regretted it almost the second he looked up and saw Rose's questioning look.  
"Malfoy genes?" She tilted her head, lowering her legs again. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, h-he doesn't mean anything. Just, you know; Scorpius' Dad and Uncle Harry didn't get on is all." Dom lied unconvincingly, her eyes darting to James angrily.

Rose raised her eyebrows, folding her arms. "That's not what you meant. James, what's going on?"

James glanced around at the other Weasleys. Lily and Hugo looked at the floor, while Fred suddenly became amazed by the fireplace and Dom shook her head furiously in James' direction and mouthed "No".

"Ok, Rose if I tell you something, you can't get mad."  
"Tell me what?" She didn't agree to his deal, James noticed, but he continued anyway.  
"Scorpius' Dad watched your Mum get tortured, and didn't do anything. And his house was Death Eater headquarters in the war."

Fred glanced up, and raised his eyebrows, as if to say "Nicely put" sarcastically.

"What?"  
"Rose, listen, we're sorry we didn't tell you before but-" Dom began.

"You all know?"  
"Yeah." Hugo mumbled. Rose turned her head and looked at him, as if upset he hadn't told her. Despite arguing all the time, Rose and Hugo were pretty close as far as siblings went.

"Does Al know?"

Dominique nodded.

"How... How can Al be friends with him?" James could feel himself blinking; avoiding eye contact with all the other Weasleys, mainly Rose.

"How-?" Her eyes darted, as if she'd suddenly thought of something. "Does Scorp know?"

"I- I think so." Fred mumbled. "I think he talked about it with Al."

Rose shook her head furiously, unfolding her arms and clenching her fists.

"How can he never have told me? How come all of you guys know and I don't-?"  
"Well-"

"How come Mum or Dad didn't tell me?" Fred didn't try to answer this time; clearly the questions were rhetorical.

"And how is he in Gryffindor, when he has such a Slytherin, Death Eater, Murdering scum of a family?"

James looked up at her, shocked at the words that had just spilled out of her mouth, but saw her looking up and behind him, with her own mouth open.

James turned around and saw Scorpius and Al standing there. They had clearly heard every word Rose had just said, if the disgusted look on Al's face was anything to go by.

"S-Scorp." Rose stuttered, standing. Without even looking at her James could tell her eyes were filling with tears. "I-"

Scorpius left without a word, Al following him straight up the stairs.

Rose stared, dumbstruck for a second, before fleeing up her own dormitory stairs, crying.

The remaining Weasleys sat in silence awkwardly for a second. Only a second, though, because moments later Dom turned on him.

"Oh, well done James!" She said sarcastically.

"What?" James said, turning towards her.

"Why did you tell her?"  
"Well none of you were going to-"  
"Yeah, because she didn't need to know just yet. It obviously wasn't going to help right now, was it?"

"Well, when would be good time to tell her, do you think?" Fred asked.

"I don't know; when it didn't matter. Like when they didn't speak anymore or when they were dating-"  
"Dating?" Hugo looked at Dom like she'd gone mad.

"Well, yeah. I always thought those two would get together. But I don't see that happening now, do you?"  
Everyone sat in silence again for a second, before leaving up to their dormitories without another word.

It wasn't James' fault. It wasn't even anything to do with him. If Malfoy and Rose weren't friends it didn't change James' life, just made Rose a bit upset, but James was sure he could sort her out. Besides, he had to tell her sometime, she couldn't just be with him forever without knowing what his family were like...

No matter how many excuses he tried to force upon himself, he didn't believe a single one.


	8. When There's No Advice

The amount of reviews and alerts and favourites has just completely blown me away! Thank you so much, and as a special thankyou I've updated super-super quick. And the next one will definately be before Saturday. My Saturday, over here in England. Haha.

_**Disclaimer: **__This storyline is mine, but the characters are all developments JK Rowling's wonderful characters!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Eight-When There's No Advice) **

Rose didn't sleep. All night she just sat, wide awake, thinking about what she'd done. She didn't even cry, because after about an hour she just didn't seem to be able to form tears any more.

She didn't talk to any of her roommates, even when they asked what was wrong she just ignored them.

How could she say those things? How could she even think those things?

It was like she wasn't even herself last night; she was completely out of control and saying things she didn't mean.

Who cared what Scorp's father did? Sure, it was a little frustrating that she'd been the last to know, but it wasn't exactly Scorp's fault; she could blame her family for that. Scorp was still Scorp, whether his father was a death eater or not and whether his house was headquarters or not. She couldn't judge him by his family; that would be completely hypocritical after years of not wanting to be judged purely by her surname.

But overnight, somewhere inbetween the crying and the hating herself, she'd realised that it was going to be ok. She was going to fix it. She was going to fix it all. She's even devised a plan; to go to breakfast early, and apologise to Scorp when he came down. That way everything would be sorted by the time the rest of the family arrived, and they could write their essays together like they did every Sunday.

Yes, that was her completely naive plan.

When she got down to the Great Hall, after having dragged herself from her bed, she was surprised to see that Lily was already sat down.

"Hey Lils." She sighed, sitting opposite her at the table.

At Lily's side was Craig Cunningham, but surprisingly no Roxanne. Rose couldn't help but think that was weird as they were rarely separated.

"Where's Roxy?" Rose asked him.

"I think her and Louisa are coming down later, they were fast asleep when I left."

"It's Sunday, Roxy'll sleep all day. It's a Weasley thing." Lily joked quietly, reaching and grabbing a piece of toast.

"I might take her up some food." Craig smiled, taking another piece of toast and standing up.

If only Rose had someone to bring her breakfast.

"So, Lily, how are you?" Rose asked, nodding to Craig as he left.

"Fine." She shrugged. "How are you after, you know, yesterday?" She said nervously.

"It's going to be ok." Rose replied, hoping that the more she said it out loud the more true it would be. "I'm going to apologise and it'll be fine. Anyway, why are you up so early?"

"Waiting for a letter."

"Who from?"

"No one special, just Dad."

To anyone else, calling Harry Potter "_no one special_" would almost be seen as an almost criminal offense, but this wasn't quite the same within the Weasleys or Potters.

"Oh cool. Have you been here on your own then?" Rose asked, trying to find out if, by some miracle, Scorp had got up early and already been to breakfast.

"No, Craig was here when I got down. And Louis and Jake were just leaving when I arrived. They've gone now, clearly."

"Only them?"

"Scorpius hasn't been down." Lily said, knowingly.

Rose smiled slightly.

They sat in silence for a while, Lily simply eating and glancing up whenever an owl flew past, while Rose buttered and ate her toast, thinking about what to say to Scorp.

James, Fred, Dom and Anna came down in a little group - as they always did – a little while later. The second James saw Rose he looked around awkwardly. They all did, in fact.

"Morning." Rose said simply.

"Hi." James nodded, seemingly amazed by the teapot below him.

"Are you ok?" Dom asked carefully.

Rose shrugged. "I'm going to fix everything." She replied simply.

Fred nodded. "That's good." He stated, still not looked up at her.

"So you're not... you're not mad at us for telling you?"

"Us? Only _you_ told, James." Dom said, sternly.

"Ok, fine!" James huffed. "Rose, you're not mad at me are you?"

"No. It's ok." She replied honestly. "I'm glad I know. Not that it really makes a difference to anything. Scorp's still the same person."

They nodded in agreement, and the conversation changed to the first Quidditch training session, which James planned to be next Saturday.

"Are you really ok?" Dom whispered to Rose, while the rest of Weasleys were distracted by Quidditch talk.

"I will be. It's going to be ok." Rose told her. "Right?"

Dom just bit her lip in reply, and suddenly seemed very involved in the Quidditch conversation. How useful, Rose thought.

The hall was slowly filling up, and Rose knew it was only a matter of time until Scorp came down. And then everything would be ok.

She stared at the door, just waiting for him to come inside. Then she would apologise, he would forgive her and equally ask for forgiveness for cursing Dave, and then everything would be fine.

The more she told herself this, the more she doubted it.

She gave up all hope when she saw Al coming through the doors, alone.

He walked towards them, not meeting Rose's eyes. And when he reached the place at the table, he reached over Rose's shoulder and started collecting pieces of toast and crumpets without a word to anyone.

Rose glanced up to see James and the others shifting uncomfortably.

"Wh-where's Scorp?" Rose said, so quietly that she was sure only Al could've heard her.

"He doesn't want to see you." Al replied, his voice almost empty. He wasn't quiet like she had been, in fact, if anything, he was loud. "I don't think he wants to see you ever again, and quite frankly, neither do I."

Rose stared after him, her eyes filling with tears.

For as smart as she was, she couldn't think of a way to fix this now.

...

"I don't think he wants to see you ever again, and quite frankly, neither do I."

James stared open-mouthed at his brother, amazed that he could ever say these things to someone. Al wasn't the angry type; in arguments at home he would normally just storm off, not rise to any of James' insults.

He considered saying something, doing the older-brother routine and telling Al off. But before he had a chance Al left without another word, and James just watched Rose nervously.

She stared at the place he had been stood for a few seconds, almost as if she'd been stupefied, then burst into tears far more furious than yesterday's and ran out of the hall without saying anything.

Sat next to James, Dominique put her crumpet in her pocket and ran after Rose. James had known she would do it almost before she did; she tended to be the first to comfort people.

He turned his head awkwardly to Fred, who whistled slowly.

"Poor Rose." Anna sighed.

James was about to reply when he heard someone clearing their throat from behind him.

He turned around to see Louisa, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, pulling at her sleeves nervously.

"Can I sit with you guys? Craig brought Roxy's breakfast up so I'm kind of on my own."

James could've been hallucinating, but he was sure this question was just to him; he was the only person she was looking at.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." James said, moving up the bench so there was now a gap between him and Lily.

Louisa smiled gratefully and sat down.

James had never been this close to her. She'd sat opposite him in the hall once or twice, and they'd sat with a few people between them a few times, but he'd never actually been sat next to her before; their thighs were touching through their jeans. And, he could swear that Lily had deliberately moved up the bench so Louisa was even more squashed against him, but he wasn't about to complain.

He looked up to see Fred and Anna smirking at him. "Right, well, we'll be off." Fred smiled, standing up.

Completely unsubtly, Fred looked at Lily as if to tell her to leave as well, but she shook her head.

"Why are you staying down here?" Fred said, still clearly attempting subtlety but failing as he tilted his head in Louisa's direction.

"Waiting for a- There!" James glanced up to see his father's owl flying over their head. He looked at his sister confusedly over Louisa's head while she leaned forward for the orange juice, but as a reply Lily just smiled and caught the letter Hedwig III had dropped.

Fred and Anna left, Lily read and Louisa ate. James just watched her, as weird as it sounds. He had nothing better to do.

"Yes!" Lily smiled. "James, Dad says that you _have_ to let me try out for the Quidditch team!" She held out a letter that was covered with their father's messy writing. He didn't even read it, he just shook his head.

"No. The teams set now-" He began.

"But-" She thrust the letter in front of him again, desperately.

"Lils I said no."

Louisa had stopped eating, and was looking at James questioningly.

"James, at least let me try out-" Lily was getting visibly upset; tears were slowly but surely filling her eyes and her voice was getting more and more stuttery.

"No. You can next year, when I'm not captain."

"E-exactly James, you won't be captain." She said loudly. The Hufflepuffs on the next table turned and looked at her confusedly. What's so wrong with me w-wanting to p-play with my b-brother. Y-you let everyone else try out; Hugo, Al-"

"You're different." James sighed, guiltily looking down at his sister as she started to sob.

"You just don't think I'm good enough, d-do you?"

James shook his head. "It's not that-"

"Then why c-can't I p-play?"

"Because I said so." James said simply.

Lily stared up at him for a second, before running off and sobbing, similarly to the way Rose had earlier. Two of his cousins crying before 9; it had to be some sort of record, James thought.

Louisa put down her breakfast and turned around to face him. James couldn't help but notice exactly how close her lips were to his when she was talking to him.

"I know this might seem nosy, but why won't you let her play?"

James bit his lip. "When we were younger, we used to have Quidditch tournaments in the garden of my grandparents' house. And when she was seven, Lily fell off her broom. And my family and I were stuck watching as Dad apparated her away to St Mungo's. I was only ten and I had to visit her for a week, and I don't think I'll ever forget my Dad's face; I couldn't handle it if she got hurt on my team. I couldn't do that to my Dad." James looked down, embarrassedly. He'd just made a complete fool of himself, opening up like that.

But then a smile crossed her face. He'd never seen her smile at him before. She placed her hand on top of his, and James stared to make sure it had really happened.

"I never knew you cared that much."

"She's my little sister, of course I care."

Louisa nodded. "Yeah, of course. You're a good brother, James. But you can't hold her back just because you're scared of what might happen to her."

"I know you're right but I just can't let her get hurt." Louisa nodded as if she understood. "Thanks though."

He looked up into her eyes. They were so unbelievably beautiful; more beautiful every single time he saw them.

When the bell rang a few minutes - or seconds, James wasn't sure - later, she jumped and pulled her hand away.

"Er, goodbye James. I've got to, er, go."

She got up and left, and James just stared after her.

James didn't have many _"moments"_ with girls. But Fred always went on about his and Anna's _"moments"_ before they were going out. _"We were just looking into each other's eyes, James, as if we were going to kiss or something!" _

And, if James was sure of anything, he was sure that he and Louisa had just had their first moment.


	9. Trying To Explain

Hey guys. Here's the update, because I love everyone who reads this and you all need rewarding!

Also, for A True Dreamer, I'm going to explain the title of this story; basically, because in most families the saying is _"The magic word is please"_, "_Please_" doesn't need to be said in this family, instead they're just always apologising to each other, and also the magic part... Harry Potter... Magic... yeah. :) Hense _The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please_.

To everyone who requested one, I've written a Scorp chapter which comes up soon!

_**Disclaimer- **__I don't own Harry Potter. Doesn't that suck?

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Nine-Trying To Explain) **

Lily didn't come back downstairs until Monday. She didn't know, or care, what she'd missed after breakfast yesterday. She'd just slept, and cried, and told herself how stupid she was for believing for a second that James might change his mind just because of what her Dad had said.

Everyone else would change their mind because of what Harry Potter said. James just thought he was better than everyone, his father included. So she'd spent the entire weekend avoiding her horrible brother as much as she possibly could.

She knew she was up unusually early, but she'd heard Annabelle mentioning that the Quidditch list had been posted. Purely to wind herself up even more, she wanted to see who was good enough for the team over her. She just didn't want _him_ to see her doing it.

When she entered the common room, it was exactly as empty as she had expected; every other Gryffindor was sleeping as late as they possibly could before the week started again.

She practically ran to the notice board, enjoying the fact there was no one around to see her, so she didn't have to hide the fact she was reading the list.

James' handwriting was almost exactly the same as their Mum's.

_**Gryffindor Quidditch Team - Final List**__**  
**__Chaser- James Potter  
Chaser- Anna Wood  
Chaser- Jake Thomas  
Beater- Hugo Weasley  
Beater- Dave Finnigan  
Keeper- Scorpius Malfoy __**X Gemma McGlaggen  
**__Seeker- Albus Potter_

She had hoped, stupidly, that seeing the list would give her closure and make her give up. But it hadn't. It had just made her angrier, and more desperate to do something about it. Her instincts screamed that she should reach out and rip the list into pieces.

Maybe Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley's genes were finally coming out in her?

She turned around, and found herself looking straight at Rose, who was sat on the bench at the bottom of the stairs to the boy's dormitories.

She hadn't even heard her come downstairs, which was unusual as Rose wasn't the most graceful of people.

"Rose?" Lily asked, walking towards her delicately.

As she got closer, she saw tear stains down her cousin's cheeks, bags under her eyes, practically transparent skin; Rose hadn't slept at all the night before.

Her cousin didn't reply, she just nodded. She was shaking in a way that was unusual for Rose; it wasn't the cold, it almost seemed to be... nerves?

Lily sat next to Rose, trying to ensure the bench made almost no noise because she thought that Rose would jump in shock at even the smallest sound.

"Are you alright?"

Rose nodded furiously. "I'm fine."

Lily tilted her head, disbelievingly. "Are you sure?"

Rose nodded again, then turned and smiled at Lily. The type of fake smile that Lily knew was just to shut her up. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

She turned back and looked down at her lap. Following her gaze, Lily saw a scruffy book on her knee, with no title or label. It looked so unlike one of Rose's possessions Lily almost gasped that Rose had even dared to touch it. But she wasn't just touching it. She was practically clinging to it.

"W-Why were you looking at the notice board?" Rose asked quietly.

"Oh. I was just..." Lily considered lying, looking up to the notice board for other notices, only to see an article from the prophet on her cousin's joint head-girl ship. "I was looking at the Quidditch list." She sighed honestly. "Hugo got in, he'll be really happy and-"

"Is Scorp in?"

Lily shook her head. "Gemma's replaced him."

Rose bit her lip, clearly feeling guilty.

"Why are you up so early?" Lily asked her, after a silence that lasted so long that Gryffindors started walking past them to meet people or go to the hall.

"Just... waiting for someone." She replied vaguely, looking up the boys' dormitory stairs.

Clearly she was waiting for Scorpius.

There was another silence as Lily tried to imagine how Rose could be feeling. She and Scorpius were so close; they were almost family. Lily had never seen Rose like she was with Scorpius; she could go a whole summer being the geeky annoying cousin, but then come back to school, see Scorpius, and laugh and joke and turn back into the Rose everyone loved. She was only really that girl with two people; Lily's Uncle Ron, and Scorpius Malfoy. And now Rose had lost what Lily could only assume was like her brother. As angry as she was at them, Lily couldn't stand even the idea of losing any of her family.

"Did you get that letter yesterday?"

Rose's voice knocked Lily out of her thoughts. "What? Oh, er, yeah."

Lily went quiet, as Rose had when Lily tried to speak to her, so they both sat in silence again. Despite not speaking, Rose was weirdly supporting Lily, and Lily liked to think she was doing the same thing back.

Louis, Jake and Hugo walked past them, not even noticing Rose or Lily properly until they turned back around to check that their eyes hadn't deceived them.

"Lily? Rose? What are you guys...?" Louis' voice trailed away as he noticed how depressed Rose looked. All the boys looked at Lily questioningly, as if to check she was ok, to which Lily shook her head honestly.

Hugo bit his lip worriedly. "I'll talk to you later, Lily." He eventually said, carefully. He clearly wanted Lily to later inform him that his sister was fine; Lily just wasn't sure she would be able to.

Rose was glancing at every person who walked past. Each time she sat up straighter and gripped the book so hard her hands went white, only relaxing slightly when she knew for sure it wasn't Scorpius.

Hugo, Jake and Louis left towards the portrait whole, Hugo glancing back worriedly at his sister a few times.

"Lily?"

Lily turned her head towards Anna's voice, which had come from the sofas.

"Lils, are you okay after yesterday?" Dom asked, walking towards them. Anna followed, both of them looking at her caringly.

Lily just shrugged.

"Rose was gone too..." Again, Anna's voice faded as Lily leant back so they could see the ghost that was temporarily their cousin sat next to her.

Dom looked about to open her mouth, then closed it again, looking surprisingly more ungraceful than normal. Her eyes were darting worriedly between Rose and Lily.

Rose didn't even look up, despite the fact that Lily could clearly hear their names, not just from their cousins but also other gossiping Gryffindors. She just carried on waiting, as if in a trance.

"Babe! How are...?" For the third time of the day, another Weasley's voice trailed away. Fred had run up and hugged Anna, before she gestured slightly at the two of them on the bench.

He didn't even try to say anything, he just stared.

James, who had come in at the same time, did the same thing.

"Lils-" James stepped towards her, guilt (or something else that she'd never seen on her brother before) seemed etched onto his face. "Lily I-"

Then Al came down.

Rose practically jumped up, almost tipping the bench over even with Lily on it.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Al asked, after what Lily could almost swear was an eye-roll.

"Is Scorp coming down?" Rose replied. She spoke oddly loudly, compared to her voice moments ago.

"Not for breakfast." Al shrugged, walking away immediately afterwards.

Rose just sat back down, far less energetically than she had stood up.

"Guys, we should go to breakfast." Dom said quietly, while everyone else looked at Rose worriedly.

Rose shook her head furiously.

"You can't not go to breakfast." Lily said quietly.

She didn't reply. Just clung to her book again when someone walked by.

Lily looked at Dom, in a way she hoped was telling her to go without her.

"Lily, go to breakfast." Rose said quietly.

It wasn't a request, it was a command.

So Lily didn't question it, just stood up and walked away, straight through the portrait hole without another word.

She knew that Rose knew what she wanted. If she wanted Lily there, she would've made it happen.

It seemed that no one wanted Lily around.

...

Rose stared blankly at the wall. She was sure that if she stared in one place she couldn't possibly burst into tears, and if her vision was blocked it would mean someone had come from the dorms and therefore she would have to look up to see if it was Scorp. She had it all figured out.

She knew that telling Lily to leave, especially when she too was upset, meant that she would need to apologise later for yet another thing. But first she needed to sort out the problem that was keeping her up all night.

She'd worked out what Scorp would do. She knew him so well that she knew when he'd come down the stairs. She just knew it.

Slowly but surely, the common room emptied out again, as quickly as it had filled. Dom tried to persuade Rose to also go to breakfast, saying things that Rose didn't even register, but they all gave up eventually.

By the time the bell rang, meaning the plates of food were now full, the common room was as empty as it had been that fateful Christmas Eve...

Rose stopped herself thinking about that, forcing tears almost back into her eyes.

And then she heard the sound she was waiting for; footsteps.

She knew it was him before she even saw him, standing up to prepare herself. He was down to see the Quidditch list.

When he came out of the shadows the stairwell provided, guilt once again hit Rose as if she'd been punched in the stomach. Tears sprang to her eyes and she bit her lip furiously to make sure she didn't dissolve into sobs.

As far as Scorp went, this was the worst she'd even imagined he could look; even in her nightmares.

Then he saw her, and turned as if to go back up the stairs.

She was prepared for this; she reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Scorp."

He hesitated. That was enough for Rose. She tried to remember the speech she'd planned the night before, but instead words just spilled out of her mind and into her mouth.

"I can't even say how... how sorry I am. For- for saying those things and even thinking those things and shouting at you for protecting me and losing you your place on the Quidditch team and... I..." She gasped for breath, her held back sobs starting to interrupt her speech. He had turned slightly, looking down at her without any obvious emotion on his face. "I can't explain. I wouldn't know where to start." She sighed nervously, then released her fingers from her hand and stretched out her hands to him, handing her the single most private possession she had. "Read my diary. Please, just... I know I can't ask you to do anything but, if you will, read it? Please. Then you don't ever have to look at me, or speak to me... you just have to have understood for a moment."

He looked down at the diary uncertainly. Then he looked up, into her eyes for a second. Just long enough that she could try and make him see.

He took the notebook, and then turned away back towards the steps.

Rose thought it was over.

But then he turned around.

"You..." His voice was hoarse, the same way it is if you talk or laugh or cry or scream too much. "You lost me my place in the Quidditch team?"

Rose stared for a second, wondering where his priorities had gone, or if he really cared about her so little that she really did come second to Quidditch now. She nodded. "James replaced you with Gemma."

He nodded, making a little sarcastic "huh" sound, then turned and walked back up the stairs.

That was it.

It was done.

It was all his now.

Her diary.

Everything she'd ever thought about since starting Hogwarts.

All she'd ever really thought about- and all she'd ever really written about- was Scorp.

Now he would know.


	10. Expect The Unexpected

Thankyou very much for the reviews! Keep them coming! :) :) You have no idea how much they make me smile.

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter isn't mine. It's all JK Rowling's. :) dammit.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Ten-Expect the Unexpected) **

To say James loved free lessons was an understatement. To say he loved having the first lesson on Monday free was an even bigger understatement.

Especially when, last week, he saw that it was not just he and Fred who had that lesson free.

Louisa was free too.

And this morning, Fred had chosen to go back to bed.

So James and Louisa were alone, and after yesterday's moment, to say James was happy was an understatement.

"James, are you even writing?" Louisa asked, leaning over his shoulder and looking down at the paper in front of him.  
"Wh-what?" James stuttered, coming out of his distraction.

"You seem really far away. You'll never get that essay done if you keep letting your mind wander."  
James nodded, picking up his quill which had been left in one place in the parchment for so long that there was now a large ink blot in the middle of his essay.

He could feel Louisa smiling at him satisfactorily as he pretended to write, before she leant back over her page to scribble more on her already pages long essay.

God, she was cute when she was concentrating. She leant so far over her work that her hair fanned over the desk, and every now and again she would lean back, examine her work and bite her lip... How was James ever meant to concentrate with her sat so close to him?

"So how are you, after you know, yesterday?" Louisa asked quietly as she wrote.

He sighed, since he was trying not to think about it. He still felt guilty over it all, especially as Lily had looked so broken this morning. "I'm alright."

"Really?"

He nodded unconvincingly, trying to save face in front of her. After all, he'd already been all weird and honest in front of her yesterday; he didn't want her to think he was a complete loser.

She nodded, putting her quill down.

"It's funny, the more I talk to you, the more I think I was wrong about you."  
James smiled. "That's good isn't it?"

She nodded. "I guess so."

She picked up her quill and started to write again.

"You haven't asked me out in while, all this year in fact." She said nonchalantly, her eyes firmly on the paper in front of her even though James could tell she wasn't writing a word.

"Yeah, are you sad about that?" he joked hopefully, nudging her.

She glanced up. "I was just saying." He raised her eyebrows at her, and she squirmed. "Get back to your essay."

He smiled to himself, and then leant back over his paper as if writing but secretly studying her.

In fact, in the whole free lesson, he only wrote two words in tiny writing in the corner of the desk.

_Louisa Potter._

God, he was such a girl.

...

Al got back from breakfast to find Scorpius waiting for him, sat on the bed with his arms folded.

"Hey." Al said simply.

"How was breakfast?" Scorpius asked quietly.

"Same as always. I-I bumped into Rose. She was waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs, but she's not there anymore so it's ok."  
"Yeah, it's fine. I've only got the next four lessons with her." He replied sarcastically.

Al nodded, not sure what else to do. As much as he was on Scorpius' side, he didn't much like the position he was now in. His entire family had, for some reason, decided to be on Rose's side, and since Al was mad with Rose, he was forced into not talking to his family. He couldn't tease James or laugh at Lily, and he couldn't joke with Fred; it was like he'd lost his friends. He hoped it would all end soon, but he looked up at Scorpius and decided that that wasn't likely anytime soon.

"Shall we go to potions then?" Al suggested.

Scorpius nodded, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Did you see the Quidditch list?" Al asked awkwardly as they headed down the staircase.

"Yeah."

"Sorry about James crossing you out. I don't know what he was thinking, Gemma's rubbish compared to you."  
Scorpius nodded. "But it's not about Quidditch skills, is it?"

Al didn't reply, and they walked in complete silence all the way to Potions. They hadn't really talked much in the whole weekend. In fact, Scorpius had kept his curtains closed around his bed for the majority of time since the whole Rose thing.

When they arrived in Potions, it was quite empty. But not empty enough that they didn't have a few whispers about them when they went inside.

Al was dreading Rose coming to the lesson. Especially because she was assigned the seat right next to them.

"Hey Scorpius!"

Paige Parkinson's voice was a sound that Al found scratching a chalkboard preferable to.

She was the biggest pain ever. And, because her mother had been best friends with Scorpius' Dad, she felt she was supposed to be Scorpius' best friend, despite the fact he very strongly disliked her.

"What do you want, Paige?" Scorpius sighed tiredly, starting to take his books out of his bag.

"Nothing, just wanted to say that I heard what you did to Dave. You were completely right, I think. And I heard that Weasley girl told you off for it. She's completely pathetic-"

"Shut it, Paige."  
Despite the fact he was angry with her, Scorpius still would hear a bad word against Rose from anyone. He even got angry when Al ranted about what she'd said.

Paige glared at Scorpius for a second. He continued to unpack his bag obliviously, but then accidentally knocked it over sending the contents flying towards Parkinson.

She giggled annoyingly, and bent down to pick up books for him.

"What's this?" She asked, standing up and holding a book that Al had never seen before. It was too scruffy to be one of Scorpius' possessions, Al was sure.

"Give it back." Scorpius said simply, reaching towards the book.

Instead of doing as she was told, Paige flicked the book open.

"_'This book is the property of Rose Jean Weasley'_. Wait, is this Weasley's diary?" She asked excitedly, turning to one of her friends and smiling.

"Give it back." Scorpius said again, looking slightly angrier. Al just looked at Scorp questioningly. Why did he have her diary? He hadn't stolen it, had he?

Paige looked at him for a second, as if considering following Scorpius' commands, but then changed her mind and stood up on the table, holding the diary out of his reach.

Scorpius immediately pulled his wand out of his pocket.

"You can't." Al said, looking at him meaningfully. "You heard McGonagall, if you curse one more person you're out of here."

Scorpius sighed, putting his wand back resignedly.

Al considered cursing Paige himself, but his body didn't seem to allow this; cursing her would just bring far more attention to the whole thing.

So Al could only stand and watch as Paige read aloud from the diary, teenagers pulling their chairs towards her to hear better. He felt as helpless as Scorpius looked.

"_'25th December, 2021_.'" Paige started, in a posh voice that Al assumed was meant to be Rose's. "_'I hate this time of year. It's not that I don't love spending time with the pains in the ass that are my family, but I just find it depressing. All the parents get all upset over the people who aren't here, and then the war stories start. I know that it was an awful time, and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I've never understood why a time that's meant to be so happy has to be ruined with such upsetting stories. It's worse because James and Fred aren't here, and I hate to admit it but they do make everything a bit more fun. Al and Hugo have spent the whole day outside on their stupid brooms, and Louis and Dom are over in France. It's been so boring that I've had nothing to do but think. Think about this time last year. I still can't believe it was only a year ago when it seems like only yesterday to me. I wish so much that I could forget it like he has; but I can't. He means too much to me.'"_

Al wasn't sure what Rose was writing about, but one glance at Scorpius told him that he understood every word.

"_'I wonder sometimes if he knows how I feel. Sometimes he gives me these looks and I think, just for a second, that it's possible he feels the same way. But then I'm reminded of his words 'Just the mistletoe' and I see that I'm just being stupid. He doesn't love me like I love him_.'" Paige laughed. "She's a bit emotional isn't she? _'He'll never love me like I love him'_." She laughed again, and the Slytherins joined in. "Bless her, poor little rejected Weasley! _'And that's why this Christmas is really miserable. Because he's not here. And I'm always a little bit miserable when he's... not...'_" Paige stuttered, and Al span around to see Rose in the doorway.

She stood, tears filling her eyes, before turning and fleeing the classroom.

"Tetchy!" Paige joked awkwardly, getting down from the table.

"Just give me it!" Scorpius yelled, holding his shaking hands out. Paige practically threw the book at him, and Scorpius ran out of the room without saying anything else.

Al just stared at the door his best friend and his cousin had just run through, hating the fact that he was completely oblivious to everything.


	11. If Only We Knew

Thankyou so much for the reviews, and alerts and favourites etc. I literally smile every single time I get an email from FF. :)  
Right, it's Scorp's turn! :) However, I'm still not sure about this chapter; I'm just wondering if it's slightly too short or rushed. Please reassure me that it's not rubbish.

When you finish this Chapter you will understand this far more but; this is not the end. Not even close. :)

_**Dislaimer**__: Annoyingly, Harry Potter isn't mine. Neither are any of the characters. Because the world just isn't fair!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Eleven-If Only We Knew) **

Scorpius had never, in his whole life, run so fast. But he still felt he wasn't going fast enough.

He was dodging between late pupils and irritating ghosts, trying as hard as he could to not lose sight Rose.

She hadn't been running at first, but she'd started sprinting almost the second he'd shouted her name.

"Rose!" he yelled again; children in the corridor turned confusedly but he just carried on.

She turned right down the corridor, instead of the direction of the common room, which temporarily startled Scorpius so much that he stopped running.

Then he worked out where she was heading. And he didn't know why he hadn't worked it out sooner.

He ran down the corridor, turned left, and right again, and came face to face with a blank wall.

The Room of Requirement.

He felt like a complete idiot pacing along the wall, repeating "I have to see the place where Rose Weasley is" three times.

But then a door appeared, with a "Do not enter sign" scribbled upon it.

He threw it open, and ended up inside the Gryffindor common room. Not just any Gryffindor common room, though. It was dark outside, a Christmas tree was up in the corner and mistletoe was hanging over the fireplace. It was Fourth Year Christmas Eve.

Before he fully knew what was happening, a bauble from the Christmas tree hit his head.

He turned, to see Rose glaring at him with tear marks scarring her cheeks, sending the baubles flying at him without saying a word. He must have dodged about 12 of them, before he eventually yelled "Rose, stop it!"

She stared wide eyed at him, before bursting into tears and throwing herself down on the sofa, a yell of "Go away" barely audible within her sobs.

Scorpius must had stayed silent for at least 5 minutes, just watching her curled up on James' seat in the sofa, sobbing. He hated himself for doing this to her; he considered doing as she asked and walking out, but her diary was still in his hands and he couldn't leave them like this.

"Rose." He said quietly, walking towards her.

She just sniffed.

"Rose, I'm so sorry about the diary. She just took it off me and I- I couldn't stop her."

She glanced up at him, not he was close enough, and then held out her hands. "Give me it."

He handed her diary over nervously, and the second it was in her hands she pulled it close to her chest before bursting into a fresh wave of tears.

"It was so private. I wanted you to read it a-and see...Y-You weren't meant to find out like that." She sobbed.

Scorpius sat down next to her slowly, thinking about how to respond. "I didn't know you felt like that."

She shook her head furiously. "I don't... I don't want to talk-"

"Well I do."

She looked up from her feet, and brown eyes met grey.

And then Scorpius breathed in and prepared himself to say what he'd wanted to say since the day he met Rose Weasley.

He wanted to tell her that she had always been the most beautiful girl in school to him.

He wanted to tell her that the only reason he really played the house game with her every year was to see her be all cute and pout when she lost.

He wanted to tell her that he loved the fact she got upset when everyone mentioned the war.

He wanted to tell her that the only reason she did better than him in Herbology was because she was partnered with Andy Phillips instead of him in the exam.

He wanted to say how sorry he was for not telling her what his Dad did to her Mum, and tell her it was just because he was terrified of losing her.

He wanted to tell her that he cursed Dave because he was jealous. He got so crazy and out of control at the idea of anyone else being anywhere near her.

And he wanted to tell her that that Christmas Eve meant everything to him. And that he would've kissed her anyway; the mistletoe was just a lucky coincidence.

But he didn't tell her all those things.

Instead he just bent down and kissed her...

...

Rose pulled away from Scorp almost instantly.  
"Don't." She shook her head. For once in her life, she knew almost exactly what she was doing where Scorp was concerned, even if she hated herself for it.

The way he looked at her made her want to cry all over again.

"Because, last time you did that you... I think you broke my heart." She bit her lip, aware that she was being truly honest with Scorpius for the first time since they met. "And I-I don't want that to happen again."

She realised there was no point of hiding how she was feeling or how she had felt any more, if he - or more technically Paige - had read her diary then he knew. She had no reason to hide it any more.

"Rose, I... I think I've wished I could go back to that kiss almost every day since it happened."  
"Why?" She looked at the floor again, bracing herself for the heartbreak that would come when he said he wished it hadn't happened.

"Because I wish I'd stayed." She looked up at him again; he was staring down at her as if willing for her to listen. "I wish I hadn't been so scared-"  
"What have you got to be scared of?" She asked quietly, shocked at the honesty that he was showing.

"Al, James, your cousins, your brother-" Rose raised her eyebrows at him, and they both laughed weakly. "But mostly, I was scared you wouldn't feel like I felt...How I feel."  
"Well how do you feel?" Rose asked, slightly hopefully. He couldn't possibly be telling her that he-

"I love you, Rose."

She blinked. Her tears disappeared; she suddenly felt so happy that she thought she had to be dreaming.

"Y-you what?" she asked, sitting up properly.

"I- I love you?" he replied nervously, biting his lip the way he did when he didn't know the answer to a question.

"Y-you love me?"

He nodded. "I have done ever since you smiled at me when I got into Gryffindor."  
"You love me?" She realised she sounded like a broken record, but dreams rarely came true, and she refused to believe that she hadn't fallen asleep and was going to wake up any minute.

He nodded again, and then smiled anxiously.

"You love me." she stated, yet again. It didn't matter how many times she said it, it still didn't seem real.

"I do."

She realised how long she'd left him waiting, repeating that he loved her but not admitting her own feelings.

"I- I love you too" she told him, smiling. She'd said it, and she could swear that her heart suddenly felt a lot lighter.

"You do?" She nodded. "Th- that's why everything this year happened. My plan was to get over you but-"  
"I don't want you to get over me." He shook his head.

Rose was aware that they were slowly getting closer and closer to each other, as if their bodies were pulling them together like those muggle magnet things. Everything is was inevitable, Rose thought, now everything had been confessed.

"You don't?"  
He laughed slightly. "Rose, I just told you I loved you. Why would I want you to get over me?"  
"I- I don't know; you might still be scared of James or..." She smiled, aware of the uncharacteristic flirtiness in her voice.  
He shrugged. "They don't scare me. Or maybe only a little bit. But I don't care what they do to me as long as I'm with you."  
"With me?" Rose asked, teasingly. "What do you mean by with me?"  
"You know what I mean, Weasley."  
"I'm not sure I do, Malfoy."

Then their lips met.


	12. How Things Change

Wow wow wow. Thank you so much for the reviews. The sheer amount of them is unreal. I smile so much at them all! :) Keep them coming. To anyone who said this is the best fic they've read. You all made me cry. I hope your happy (!) :)

Also, just wanted to reply to _roonilwazlib1_, who said James was 2 years older than Al and Rose etc. Sorry, I didn't know, and I worked off Harry Potter Wiki and normal Wikipedia which said they were only a year older?

This chapter's really long, since I just didn't really want to stop writing it, but it's just a bit of a filler, until some more drama soon! :)

_**Dislaimer: **__Harry Potter? Not mine. I wish. A lot_.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_  
**(Chapter Twelve- How Things Change)**

The past two months of Lily's life hadn't been the best.

It had started when Rose had returned to the common room, after an entire weekend of crying over her argument with Scorpius, smiling again. Then everyone seemed to forget everything that had happened that weekend; including the fact that Lily was upset and that she was owed an apology from her brother. It was made worse, however, by the fact that Lily's only real friends in Hogwarts were her family members, so she had to sit with them again. James acted as if nothing had happened; he didn't apologise or even explain.

But the worst part of the past two months for Lily, was listening to them talking about Quidditch. It just reminded her that she was, once again, completely left out.

Lily liked to think that maybe, just maybe, James still felt guilty for the whole thing, despite his lack of obvious remorse. She just thought he had too much going on in his mind.

He was more distracted than ever, and every Weasley and Potter knew why; it sure as hell wasn't tomorrow's Quidditch match. It was Louisa.

She seemed to spend all of her time with them now; she had been integrated into the family like Anna had. The more Lily spoke to Louisa the more she thought how she'd like her as a sister-in- law, and the more she wondered why the hell any girl like that would fall for her idiot of a brother.

Of course, they weren't officially going out. In fact they hadn't even kissed. But everyone knew that's where they were heading, slowly but surely.

While Lily was having a horrible two months, though; everyone else was having the time of their lives. She hated that. Rose and Scorpius were happily friends again, and Al had joined them in their happiness. Fred and Anna and Roxanne and Craig were just as happy as ever, while Dominique joined the Nauseating Couples club with her new boyfriend Edward. Hugo was more popular than ever now he was in the Quidditch team, and Lily hardly saw him anymore. She'd lost him in these last months, and that made her feel more alone than ever.

Today they were all at the Quidditch pitch. It was the last practice before tomorrow's "_big match"_ against Slytherin. Even people who weren't in the team were there for "_moral support_". Lily was sure they were all in on some sort of joke to deliberately leave her on her own as often as possible.

She had thought that she would at least have Rose and Louis today. But Louis was busy chatting up some nearby girls, and Rose was nowhere to be found.

So she was sat, completely alone on the sofa, wondering if she even cared a little bit about her Charms homework.

After sitting and writing a total of four words in ten minutes, Lily finally spotted someone she could talk to.

"Scorpius!"  
"Oh, huh, hey Lily." Scorpius replied awkwardly, looking around.

"Are you doing anything?" She asked, hopefully. "It's a bit boring here on my own."

"Oh, sorry Lily, I was going to go upstairs and- uh..."  
If anything made Lily feel worthless, it was the idea that Scorpius would rather be on his own than with her. She knew they weren't close (in fact they hardly ever spoke), but she just thought that they could keep each other company while they waited for practice to finish. They were both Quidditch team rejects, after all.

"Well do you know where Rose is?" She asked.  
"Oh, er, no, no idea. Sorry, Lily."

Then he practically ran up the stairs to his dorm.

And Lily realised that despite the fact her stupid family were going to come back in about an hour, the loneliness she felt wasn't going to go away soon.

...

Rose watched as Scorp practically ran up the dorm stairs, following him carefully as she wasn't completely sure where she was going.

They went almost all the way to the top, before Scorp opened a door and Rose scurried through.

She turned around and laughed at him, because he was still holding the door open.

"Stop laughing at me!" he whined, shutting the door.

She glanced around, checking the dorm was completely empty, before pulling the invisibility cloak off.

Then she smiled at him.

"God James is going to kill me for stealing that!" she sighed, kicking the cloak to the side and walking towards him.  
"No, I think he'll kill me first."

He bent down and kissed her, placing his arms around her. Moments later, when he pulled away, she sighed. She didn't feel so much like joking any more; she'd missed having his arms around her.

"I missed you." he whispered into her hair.

"I missed you too."

She leaned her head on his chest, and they stayed there for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's presence.

Eventually Rose broke away, spinning around to look at the boy's dorms. She'd always wondered what they were like.

"No different!" she said, exasperatedly.

"Really?" Scorp asked, tilting his head.

"Messier, but that's all."

Scorp shrugged.

Rose examined the beds, trying to work out which one was Scorp's. She still couldn't believe it was the first time she'd been in here, out of all six years in Hogwarts. The closest she'd ever gotten was Hugo's dorm when he was ill.

"Is that Al's?" Rose asked, pointing to the bed that had a poster of the English Quidditch team hanging over it and looked as if it had been hit by a reducto curse.

"Good guess."

"So that's yours." Rose pointed to the other bed, which was comparatively spotless.

"Yeah." Scorp nodded.

"May I?" she asked, pointing towards the bed.

Scorp nodded nervously, glancing at the door regularly.

She walked forwards and sat on the bed, then laughed. "Found a difference!"  
"What?"  
"Our beds are comfier."  
Scorp nodded again, still looking at the door over his shoulder and not at her.  
"Scorp, Al'll be gone for ages; it's the match tomorrow!"

"I-I know, but-"  
"He won't come in." She reassured him. "Sit down."

"Ok, this is my room, I'm in charge!" Scorp replied jokingly, walking over and sitting down next to her.

The second he sat down, Rose was very aware they were sat on a bed.

"So, you're in charge, huh?"  
Scorp smiled, nodding.

"What do you want to do now?"  
She expected it when he kissed her, because he couldn't possibly have done anything else with their faces so close to each other.

Kissing Scorp had almost become second nature; as natural as breathing or having a wand. There was nothing in the whole world she'd rather do.

Rose wasn't completely sure how, but they ended up laid next to each other on his bed.

"I love you." she sighed. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her sweetly.

Lately moments Rose used to dream of were coming true every second of every day. Moments like now, wrapped up in each other with the rain pouring outside; moments like his smiles across the classroom, or their notes they slid to each other in free periods with Al.

Rose kept hoping that no one would pinch her; she never wanted to wake up.

"I love you too."

Everything was so perfect; if only they weren't sneaking around.  
There were many good reasons, which Rose had listed many times when she'd been alone, for them to stay a secret. Her cousins (mainly James) were likely to curse Scorp- Craig hadn't been able to walk properly for 3 weeks after James had found out about him and Roxy, and could only wear baggy trousers- and she didn't want him hurt, Al's reaction was completely unpredictable and Rose didn't want to ruin Scorp and Al's friendship, if the rest of the school found out they would find the idea of a Malfoy and a Weasley as completely alien and a source of amazing gossip, and finally – and arguably most importantly- if their fathers found out, Rose didn't even want to think about what would happen.

"What are you thinking about?" Scorp asked her.

She sighed. "Nothing, just the whole secret thing."  
"Me too."

"Yeah?"  
Scorp nodded.

She leant her head back. She knew that, eventually, they would have to discuss telling people. But neither of them dared to ask whether they would last if anyone found out.

"It's cold in here, do you know that?" Rose said quickly, changing the topic.

"Oh yeah, in third year Al cast a spell to cool us down in here. We've never worked out how to undo it."

"That sounds like Al." Rose laughed. Only now she'd pointed it out did she realise how cold she actually was, and found herself involuntarily shivering.

Scorp sat up and reached over into his trunk, pulling out a Quidditch jumper.

"There." Scorp held it out to Rose, who then tried to pull the jumper over her head as gracefully as she could without falling off the bed or looking completely stupid.

She managed it, with difficulty, and then settled back down into Scorp's arms.

"Keep the jumper by the way." He told her. She looked at him questioningly. "You look really good in it."

She smiled, and then kissed him.

Yep, everything was perfect, if only people knew they were together.

The slam of the door minutes later made them jump out of their skins.

"What the hell?"

Rose swore the door made no noise when it opened, and Al was a lot quieter up the stairs than she thought he would be. She practically flew off the bed, as if she'd been repelled by some sort of shield spell. She looked up to see Scorp had done exactly the same thing, and was now standing at the other side of the bed looking guilty.

"Al, listen..." Rose started to speak, but then she realised that she had no idea what she wanted to say or how to say it. How could she explain that she had secretly been in love with their best friend for six years? How could she tell him that, while Al assumed they were like brother and sister, they were actually the exact opposite of that.

She wasn't sure how long she was quiet for, but it was long enough for Al to impatiently say "I'm listening!"  
"Er..." Rose stuttered, glancing at Scorp.

"What were you doing with my cousin?" Al asked, clearly fed up of waiting so turning on Scorp.  
"Ok, listen, it's not just like she's some girl who-"  
"No she's not _'some girl_'; she's my cousin!"

"Yeah." Scorp stammered awkwardly. Rose just stared at him sympathetically (and a little incredulously). "I mean, it's not like I'm just sleeping with your cousin-"  
"Sleeping with?"

Rose's mouth opened wide. What the hell had he said that for? "No! No, wait we haven't-"  
"I love her!" Scorp shouted loudly.  
"Eh?" Al asked quietly, his eyes wide as if he'd been stunned.

"I love her. I always have." He wasn't stammering anymore; his voice sounded strong compared to Al's confused one.  
"But, I thought she was like your sister?"  
Scorp just shook his head.

"Oh..." Al nodded, his eyes moving quickly as understanding dawned on him. "You love my cousin?"

Scorp nodded.

And then Al turned to Rose.  
"And you... you love him?"  
Rose nodded, stepping forward towards him. "Yeah, I always have."

As if he'd suddenly lost control of his leg muscles, Al sat down on his bed opposite them.

"So... so you two...?"

Scorp walked forward and stood next to Rose. She looked up at him hopefully and they both nodded at Al.

"But you, you haven't...?"  
They shook their heads furiously.

Al nodded. "This... this is insane. How long have you two been... you know?"  
"About two months now."  
"Why didn't you tell me?" He shook his head, looking more offended than angry.  
"We didn't know how you'd react."  
Al laughed awkwardly. "I think I reacted pretty averagely given the situation."

Rose and Scorp both nervously laughed as a reply.

"So, are you ok with...?" Scorp's voice trailed away nervously.

Al nodded. "I think so. I mean, I can't believe it, but I guess if you're happy then… James and Fred won't be impressed. And Uncle Ron? Oh God I almost feel sorry for you guys."

Rose laughed nervously, while Scorp just continued to look more and more terrified. Almost out of instinct, she took his hand.

"You two are pretty cute together." Al said simply. Then he groaned. "Oh God, I sound like Dom! I ha- I have to get back to... the normal universe. You two, er, stay here. But not for too long, please." He stood up, directing himself for the door confusedly.

He stopped halfway through opening the door when he saw the cloak on the floor. "Is that... is that Dad's cloak?"  
Rose nodded.

"Oh god, James is going to kill you guys one day."

Then he shut the door behind him, and relief washed over Rose with the sound of the lock clicking. SHe turned to look at Scorp, who was staring at the closed door.

"Did he- did he just say he was ok with us?"  
Rose nodded. "I think so."  
"Wow." Scorp said quietly under his breath.

Rose just squeezed his hand. Because they both knew, now one person knew, it wasn't their secret anymore. It suddenly seemed much more real.

They had to tell everyone.


	13. The Only Solution

Keep the reviews coming, I love them so much. Thankyou to lepidopteran for saying I was correct on everyone's ages! I'm so Harry Potter obsessed that I got slightly panicky at the idea of getting it wrong! Haha!

Thanks guys, keep reading.

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter isn't mine, nor are his children. They are all fictional characters created by JK Rowling, although sometimes I wish they weren't so I could go on and marry Harry. Stupid Ginny ain't good enough for the Boy Who Lived. ;)

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_  
**(Chapter Thirteen-The Only Solution)**

James woke up, and instantly knew that today was the day. It was the defining moment of his entire school career; they had to, just had to, beat Slytherin. That was all he knew. He'd even received a letter from his Uncle Ron, which literally said that he would be disowned by the entire family if Slytherin beat them. He was joking, James was 70% sure.

Waking up knowing that the day was important didn't give James the urgency that he'd hoped for. No, instead he rolled over and closed his eyes again, telling himself that he could get away with another twenty minutes of sleep easily.

But then there was a bang, and James instantly shot up out of his bed in shock, only to see a box of fireworks on fire. He sighed, flicking his wand, and the fire was out as quickly as it'd begun. He was used to faulty fireworks; he and Fred always got the ones that were rejected from Uncle George's shop for common room parties.

He was surprised that they'd made it almost until December –past Halloween and Bonfire night- without actually throwing a party, it was quite unusual. But Fred had been distracted with Anna, and James had been distracted with Quidditch and Louisa. Mostly Louisa.

She was coming to the party tonight. And James couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe-

"JAMES!"

James span around, his thoughts interrupted, and came face to face with Fred, Anna and Dom standing, fully dressed, in the doorway. He glanced down to see that he slept in only a pair of boxer shorts; he felt very exposed.

"What are you doing?" He shouted, grabbing for the bed sheet.

"Oh relax, there are pictures of us three in the bath together on Grandma's mantelpiece; believe me, we have no secrets!" Dom laughed slightly.

Anna turned to Dom and raised her eyebrows, which was then replied to with a nod. Great, now Anna was going to get shown _that_ picture extra-specially.

"Girls, priorities!" Fred clicked his fingers and screeched, clearly panicked.

"What?" James asked, still pulling his sheet further up his body while Dom smirked at him.

"Ok, Potter we have a problem."

James glanced between the three of them. After none of them replied he impatiently asked "What?"

"Gemma and Dave can't play today. Or ever, in fact."

"What?" James asked, praying they were joking.

"McGonagall's banned them for being caught acting _'inappropriately'_!'" Fred replied, dramatically throwing himself down on his bed.

"Wait, but- What does that even mean?"  
"They were caught doing itin an empty classroom."  
"By-"  
"Filch."  
James would laugh, if the situation wasn't so dire.

He leapt towards his trunk, rifling through for clothes to wear as he tried to desperately think of a solution.

"Right, we need to find a keeper and a beater." James said, not particularly to anyone, whilst he pulled on his jeans. "Keeper's easy; Malfoy. But Beater?"

"All the ones that tried out were rubbish-" Fred whined, placing his head in his hands; he was really doing nothing to help calm James down.

"Edward was ok."  
"Yeah, we thought about him..." Anna said, before looking at Dom meaningfully.

Dom just sighed. "I broke up with him yesterday."

"So...?" James asked.

"So, he's _'in mourning'_" Anna replied, sitting down next to Fred.

"You're not serious?"

"Yep, his roommates say he refuses to come outside."  
"Sorry!" Dom replied, although she was smiling slightly.

"Ok, well..." James leant over his bed for his shirt, and then turned around to see someone else with Dom in the doorway.

Louisa.

"Er... I was just, er... " Her eyes were wide, and James just knew that later he was going to think about, and analyse, the way she was currently looking at him. "Er, I heard about Dave and Gemma. I wondered if I could help?"

James nodded wordlessly, clinging slightly to the shirt he was holding.

He heard sniggering from beside him, where Fred was sitting, so grabbed for his pillow and threw it straight at his cousin. Satisfied that this action may have slightly turned the situation back to normal, he continued to put on his shirt.

"Yeah, you can help actually. You and Dom can go find Malfoy - I mean, Scorpius - and tell him he's on the team, if that's ok?"

Louisa just nodded, and headed back down the stairs. Dom smiled at James tellingly before practically skipping Louisa down the stairs behind.

The second she was gone, Fred burst into laughter.

"That was classic!"

Anna hit him. James had always liked her.

"Frederick! Priorities!"

"Ok first, ow." Fred hit Anna back playfully, but then received raised eyebrows in return and changed the topic. "Secondly, beater?"

"You?" James asked hopefully.

"No."  
"Come on, your Dad would be so proud!" James smiled.

"But who would commentate?" Fred asked, sarcastically. "It's not happening James, sorry."  
"Fine!" James whined. He grabbed his coat and headed towards the door as he began listing possible beaters, all of which Fred either rejected, or were for some reason unable to play.

By the time they had reached the common room, James had run out of ideas, and threw himself down on the sofa.

He looked around to see Louisa sat opposite him, and Scorpius and Rose on the nearby seats.

"You'll play, right Scorpius?"

Rose folded her arms. "No."  
"What?" James whined. He looked at Scorpius, who smiled apologetically at him, and got the feeling this was Rose's rejection, not Malfoy's.

"Only if he's permanently back on the team." Rose smiled evilly, and James sighed.

"Fine, you're the best anyway."  
In a gesture of friendship, he offered his hand out and Scorpius shook it.

"Good to have you back, if we even play."  
"Why wouldn't you play?" Louisa asked.

"No beater." Fred replied.

"That sucks." James raised his eyebrows at Rose's comment, but shrugged it off.

"Seriously, can anyone think of a beater?"  
"Yes." Louisa replied.

"Who?" James asked desperately. "You? Do you play?" James tried not to think too much about her in a Quidditch uniform at this crucial time.

"No, not me." Louisa bit her lip, something James noticed she did whenever she was nervous. "Lily."

"No!" James replied instantly.

"Well then the team'll have to pull out." Fred sighed. "We've got no other beaters."  
"That's fine!" James lied. He knew he was being a pain, but there wasn't a chance in hell that Lily would ever set foot on that pitch.

"Oh come on, J!" Fred whined.

James just glared. Fred knew, almost better than anyone else, exactly why James wouldn't let Lily play.

"James, she's really good."

"She's still not playing."  
"So we pull out? Against Slytherin? James, we'll never live it down! You'll never live it down. The Slytherins, the Gryffindors, the _parents... _they'll never let it go!"

He clenched his fists. She wasn't playing, and that was it.

And then he felt the sofa sink slightly as someone sat on the other seat of it.

He turned to see bright blue eyes staring back at him.

"James, I know you're scared she'll get hurt, but you don't need to be." Louisa was practically whispering, and James completely forgot there was anyone else in the universe, never mind the room. "She really wants to play, and you need her."

"She can't." He replied quietly.

Then she reached out and touched his hand lightly, and suddenly he began to consider that _can't _wasn't even a word; anything was possible…

"Yes she can. She'll be alright. She's got nothing to worry about, because she'll have her big brother out there protecting her."  
James just nodded. It was like he wasn't in control of what he was doing; maybe Louisa had used some sort of unknown magic to force him into agreeing?

Fred cheered. That brought James out of his trance and made Louisa pull her hand away like his had set on fire.

"What's going on, we've not won the match yet have we?" Hugo asked from behind Fred as he walked into the common room, looking confused.

Fred didn't reply, instead he just stole the bread out of his cousin's hand and began eating it.

Lily was following Hugo, biting her nails and looking around.

"Lily, can I talk to you?" James asked.

And, for the first time in quite a while, his sister actually looked at him. And she looked at him with hope.


	14. Nothing Can Beat It

Please keep reviewing! I can't even describe how much I love them so keep them coming! :) They're good for my ego! :L

_**Disclaimer:**__ Harry Potter? I wish, so badly, he and his friends were my characters- but they aren't.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fourteen-Nothing Can Beat It)**

Al woke up when he heard Rose laughing.

Great, she was in his room. With Scorpius. That wasn't awkward at all.

He shrugged; he had no real reason to get up just yet, so instead he just closed his eyes and tried to close his ears.

"Wait, so you're actually saying you're going to watch a Quidditch match?" Scorpius laughed.

"Well, I might take a book, but I'll definitely be there to watch you."  
Al sat up ridiculously quickly. "You're playing?" He asked instantly.

Then he regretted looking over at Scorpius' bed, as he and Rose were far too close together on top of it.  
"Nice Pjs." Rose laughed, sitting up and fiddling with her hair awkwardly.

Al glared back as much as he possibly could when his eyes had only just opened.

"How long have you been awake?" She asked.

"Not long." He said quickly to his cousin, before turning back to Scorpius. "You're playing?"  
"Yeah. Gemma and Dave are banned. Permanently."  
"So you're back on the team?"  
Scorpius nodded, smiling widely, which wasn't unusual for him lately.

"Wait, who's taking Dave's place?"

"Lily."

Al blinked back. "Really?"

"Yeah."  
How did James ever let that happen, he wondered?

"Louisa seemed to convince him." Rose answered the question that Al didn't even say out loud.

Al nodded, and then stretched his arms restlessly. He could hardly wait until the Quidditch match. Up in the sky was only the place he felt completely comfortable, and the only place he could really think. And God knows there was a lot he had to think about.

It wasn't long until he and Scorpius were in the changing rooms before the match with the rest of the team. The rest of the team, Al realised, was now made up of his family and their friends. Whoever had once said that the Weasleys and Potters were in charge of Gryffindor had some major evidence right now.

James, trying to be a captain but really just being a prat, had stood on the bench as if preparing a speech.

"Right guys", Al rolled his eyes impatiently. Now he was in his Quidditch robes, with his broom hanging on the wall just by the door, all he wanted to do was get out there and fly. "So, as you all know this morning hasn't been the most relaxing morning. A few last minute team changes have been made. Scorpius is back."

"Quite rightly." Al said, under his breath as his fellow team members clapped. He still hadn't, until about 5 minutes ago, fully forgiven his brother for being so pathetic as to kick someone out of the team purely because of his surname.

"And my little sister, Lily, is replacing Finnigan."  
Their little sister beamed at the entire team. Al actually didn't know if he'd ever seen her smile so widely. He laughed slightly at her, in a brotherly-loving sort of way.

"Now I just want you to know that out there your priority, after beating Slytherin of course, is her. She's new to the team, and she's _my _little sister. If anything, and I mean anything, happens to her, my _Father _and I will personally kill you all."  
Al thought playing the Harry Potter card was an incredibly good move.

The team looked at each other nervously, and Lily glared up at James for a second before returning to the smile that seemed pasted to her face.

"Ok, so, intense moment over: play well, beat Slytherin, no pressure. Party tonight in the common room."  
The team cheered, Al included. He was surprised that there hadn't been a Gryffindor party before now.

"You ready, Lils?" James asked their little sister.

Lily nodded a little nervously, still smiling contagiously.

"You'll do great." Al told her, playing the big brother part. He did think that sometimes he didn't do that enough, compared to James who had his arm around her protectively.

"Thanks." She said quietly.

Then Fred's voice could be heard through the door, meaning that the game was starting.

The team grabbed their brooms, and Al nudged Scorpius happily as they headed outside onto the pitch.

The yells were deafening, but Al hated it down here. From down here, he felt like an ant to all the spectators. He preferred it the other way round; he preferred to be so high up that they hardly seemed like people anymore.

"Oi oi, all three Potters on the team, that's one for the Prophet!" Al heard from the Slytherin captain.

"Yeah, and it'll have the caption _'Potters beat Slytherin, again'_!" James replied, casually.

They mounted their brooms on command from the umpire, Professor Applewhite, and Al smiled, because on either side of him were his siblings. They were going to win together, no problem.

On the other side of James, Scorpius was smiling and looking up at the Gryffindor stand. For a stupid moment he had, Al wondered who he was looking for, until he realised that Rose was up there. His mind started to whir, but he told himself not to think too much until he was in the sky.

Anna was laughing already, as Fred's voice boomed over them.

"_Wow, look at Anna Wood, the Gryffindor chaser; she looks beautiful even when she's so little! The same, however, cannot be same for the Slytherin keeper; is that a bald patch?"_

On the other side of Lily was Jake Thomas, Louis' best friend, who was telling her she'd be fine as she nodded nervously. Hugo was on the other side, just staring up into the sky, clearly daunted by the prospect of actually playing the game.

The second the whistle blew, Al pushed his feet off the ground impatiently.

"Good luck Lily", he said to her quickly, before shooting off into the sky.

"_And off Al Potter goes, maybe he's already spotted the snitch! I wouldn't be surprised!"_

Al just laughed. Even though the snitch was pretty easy to see from where he was, it wouldn't be much of a game if he caught it now.

And when your this high up, who really cares about a little gold ball?

He flew higher and higher; so high that he felt as though the clouds were in reaching distance. So high that the cheers were just buzzes, and the only thing he truly heard were Fred's comments which boomed through the air.

When he was satisfied that he was the highest he could be without fainting, he twisted himself on his broom and hung his legs over one edge, staring down at everyone.

He could finally think.

He'd been waiting for this game for a while now; he'd waited for this moment. For weeks now, he'd needed to try and process everything in his mind, and now he finally could. He was completely alone.

"_And Lily perfectly knocks a bludger away from her big brother! Looks like he's the one who needs protecting, eh?"_

Lily must be the happiest girl on the planet right now, Al thought. She loved Quidditch, Al knew that. It was like their Dad said; Lily was far more similar to their mother than she realised. And James was ridiculously similar to their Dad, but he knew that. While Al looked like their Dad, James _acted_ like their Dad.

James was the better brother. Everybody thought so, even Al. He'd save Lily from anything. From anyone. Al? He wasn't sure. He leant on the fact James would always be around, so Al would never actually have to look after his little sister. Or his cousins, in fact. He left it all up to James, the father of their little Hogwarts family. What were they all going to do once James and Fred and Roxy had left? Al would be the oldest one left. And he really couldn't do the whole Big Brother thing. 14 years with Lily had taught him that much.

He just didn't know what to do. How to look after people. How to be there for anyone.

"_And Anna Wood- who still looks gorgeous even with bugs in her hair- scores for the fifth time today!"_

Anna and Fred were irritatingly cute, as were Roxanne and Craig. And now Rose and... Scorpius. Even Louisa and James were getting closer and closer to being a couple. Everyone seemed to be moving on or falling in love; everyone seemed to have someone. Al had no one. Not that he necessarily wanted to be like all the other sickly-sweet couples that surrounded him, but he was slightly fed up of feeling alone, and having the fact he was alone shoved down his throat 24/7.

"_Scorpius Malfoy catches the only Quaffle to come within five metres of the hoops with ease!"_

Scorpius and Rose were... Weird was the only word that sprang to mind that didn't involve a swearword. Al couldn't get his head around it no matter how he tried. In principle, he didn't mind that it was his cousin and his best friend. But it was Rose and Scorpius. That was what was weird; the thought that they were anything more than friends. That they kissed and... eugh. He didn't want to think about what they could – what they would – do. It was like thinking of Roxanne and Fred being together, or Dom and Louis; after so many years of looking at Scorpius as another one of his cousins, he had to readjust his view to make him and Rose not seem quite as disgusting.

"_Slytherin are clearly getting more stressed out by the score of 80-0 and their captain has now taken to dirty- albeit slightly weak- tactics."_

Al had to have been up there for almost an hour now, just thinking. Trying to get his mind around everything. Everything that was changing. Everyone that was moving on. Everyone that was leaving him behind.

The team'd be tired now, he thought; time to put them out of their misery.

He twisted himself back onto his broom properly, then slowly glided back towards the ground.

"_Oh, and after a fair while of no action, Al's back on the scene."_

The cheers rushed into his ears for a second and made his head light, but Al concentrated on staring down, waiting for the little flicker of-

Gold.

He tilted the broom and nosedived down towards the snitch.

It was almost too easy; what did his Dad used to find so hard about it?  
Twisting his broom left, he spiralled downwards less steeply, around the area that the gold was still flickering.

Then it seemed to practically disappear, zooming away in the opposite direction. He predicted this, though, and pulled his broom up and right, following the snitch's path easily.

"_90-0! Come on ANNA! Meanwhile, Potter – Al Potter to be specific, there's quite a few of them now- seems to have spotted, no wait, he's following, no... He's got it! Al Potter's caught the snitch!"_

If only life was as simple as Quidditch seemed to be, Al thought as he released his fingers to look down at the gold ball.

"_Gryffindor win with a score of... er... 240-0. That's right isn't it?"_

Al tossed the snitch up into the air and caught it as he descended to the ground.

Almost the second his feet hit the grass he was tackled to the floor by his teammates.

This felt pretty good.

But nothing felt as good as flying.


	15. Now You Finally See

As if I've hit 100 reviews! I can't even describe how much that means to me! Please keep them coming, they're so valuable... in my mind anyway. :)

_**Disclaimer**_**:** _Harry Potter still doesn't belong to me. It sucks, I know.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_**  
(Chapter Fifteen-Now You Finally See)**

Rose hated Quidditch. Even watching Scorpius play hadn't made her like Quidditch any more. Sure he was almost unimaginably hot up there on his broomstick, but it was still a ridiculously pointless sport, that she was sure didn't need to take so much time.

She told Scorp this and he'd just laughed, to which Al had rolled his eyes.

Since that quick moment between the match and the boys leaving to get changed, though, Rose hadn't seen him. After going every day this week spending almost every moment with him, she wasn't sure what to do with herself now.

He was lost somewhere in the party tonight; somewhere within the large crowd of adoring Gryffindors who jumped to muggle music and chanted excitedly. Rose thought he deserved it; it wasn't often that he was praised in this common room.

She'd sat at the side of the room, enjoying the peace that came from being away from the mayhem, but close enough to feel involved.

"Hey." Roxanne sat down next to her, looking irritatingly beautiful. How she could manage to look so effortlessly gorgeous and complete all of the head girl duties? Even when she was wrapped up in a thick cardigan, and her hair was pulled back like it was now, she was still too pretty. "You ok?"

Rose smiled. "Yeah. I really am."

"You seem it." Roxy said honestly. "I've not talked to you much. How's sixth year going?"

"Good. How's being head girl?"  
"Oh, you'll know all about it next year." She smiled, nudging Rose lightly in the ribs.

"You think?" Rose asked, looking down hopefully. Ever since she was little, she'd had the idea that she was going to be head girl shoved down her throat by her father. She wasn't even sure if she wanted it for him, or for herself, she just knew she wanted it.

"Yeah, you and Scorpius are a definitely going to get head girl and boy."  
Rose thought that if that happened, all her dreams would have come true.  
She was about to reply when Dominique sat on her other side. It was a little weird that Dom wasn't in the middle of the crowd; she was normally the centre of a party. Like Roxy, she hadn't gotten changed since the Quidditch match and had just stayed in her baggy rugby-style shirt and let her hair fall down past her shoulders.

"How are you two?"  
"Tired. I was going to go to bed, but Fred told me I should stay till midnight, for some reason." Roxy shrugged.

"It's quarter to, so you haven't got long to wait." Dom smiled. "Where's loverboy anyway?"

Roxy laughed. "He's somewhere in there. Fred's probably using him as a girl-magnet again for his friends."

Rose laughed. "That sounds like Fred."  
"He's so amazing." Roxy sighed, seemingly not hearing anyone else.  
"Who, your brother?" Dom asked, pulling a face at Rose in confusion.

"No. Craig." Roxy seemed to snap out of her trance, and turned her head to the other two girls. "Have you ever met anyone who makes you wonder why you would ever stop smiling?"

Dom shook her head, but Rose nodded without fully thinking it through.

"Oh yeah?" Dom nudged her in the ribs playfully, wiggling her eyebrows. "Who's that then?"

Rose smiled, and then shrugged. Yesterday's decision to tell people flooded her brain, so she turned and looked at her cousins. "Scorpius." she said honestly.  
Rose could hear their mouths dropping open.

"Wha-?"  
"It's Roxy, Rosie and... Dom?" The shock on Roxy and Dom's face was replaced by confusion, as they turned to see Fred and Louis strolling towards them, bottles in their hands.  
"Haha, find the odd one out!" Louis laughed, hitting Fred lazily.

"How much have you drank?" Dom frowned at her little brother.

"Not too much! I'm a good cousin; he's still upright!" Fred replied, looking almost proud of himself.

"I'm his replacement drinking buddy!" Louis said excitedly, going to sit down on the bench, accidentally landing on Dom's knee and then sliding onto the seat next to her.  
"Why what's happened to James?"  
"He's being boring. Bloody Louisa." Fred groaned.  
Rose laughed to herself.

"Hey wait, where's... Anyone seen Anna?" Fred turned full circle, and then seemed to lose his balance.

"I think she's over there." Dom said, pointing to the fireplace.

"Who?" Fred asked, confusedly.

The two girls just shook their heads exasperatedly. "Dad will be finding out about this!" Roxy said sternly.

"Bloody tell-tale!"

"Has anyone seen Hugo?" Rose asked, changing the subject. She hadn't seen her little brother in a fair while, or in fact at all after the match. She thought she should maybe lie, and say she enjoyed watching him play.

Louis laughed, before standing up ungracefully. "He's over there. With _Georgia_."  
"What? Georgia who?" Rose jumped up to look into the corner where Louis pointed, then instantly sat back down. "He's far too young to do that!" she whined.  
Fred just tapped her knee, then tried to repeat this action and missed. "There there, they all grow up sometime!"

"And Lily? Please say she's not-?"  
"She was dancing last time I saw her. She's somewhere in the middle of that." Louis pointed to the crowd.  
Rose nodded. That was ok. Or better than what her brother was up, anyway.

The music stopped suddenly, and the crowd seemed to stop moving as if they'd been stunned.

"Right guys, it's midnight!" James said, balancing himself on a table rather precariously near to the teenager who had turned to look at him. Rose could clearly see Louisa stood near him, and Lily and Al not too far away. She had no idea where Scorp had gone though.

Until she looked up and saw him standing over her.

How he managed to look so gorgeous when he must be extremely tired was a complete mystery to her. He had a checked shirt on, which had bright blue parts that almost perfectly matched his grey eyes, although Rose realised he probably didn't think about that when he put it on.  
Dom smiled meaningfully at Rose as she budged up the bench to let him sit between the two of them, while Louis fell on the floor with a thud at the end.

"I just wanted to say, everyone played amazingly today! One game down, two to go. We're going to win this cup this year, right?"

Everyone cheered. Even Rose was caught up in the Gryffindor chanting for a minute.

"Now, normally we celebrate with fireworks and screaming and cheering. But this year, Fred... Wait where's Fred?"

Rose didn't completely know when but Fred had somehow ended up on the floor, however at the mention of his name he jumped up.

"Here I am!"

"Well, this year, Fred – when he was sober – persuaded his Dad to give us some different fireworks. Better, I think. So... there's nothing to do but set them off, but music might set the mood?"

James flicked his wand, and – to everyone's surprise- slow guitar music began to play.

Without saying a word, everyone stood up, and paired off as if magnets were forcing them together. Fred was suddenly upright with Anna in his arms, and Craig appeared out of nowhere and took Roxy's hand. Dom and Louis suddenly seemed to find a partner of some sort, and Hugo and his girl joined the coupled-up crowd. Al even had his arms around Maddie Fletcher. James had reached his hand out to Louisa who had joined him on the table.

Rose turned to look at Scorp nervously.

"Think we can risk it?" She whispered under the music.

"I don't care, I'm dancing with you no matter what." He replied, reaching his hand out and pulling her up into the mass of couples. She put his arms around his neck, and his hands rested on his hips. And despite the fact she swore she couldn't dance to save her life, they seemed to be swaying to the music pretty easily.

"Now the fireworks." James voice seemed to fit with the music, instead of blaring, and Rose barely registered when he flicked his wand and a small bang interrupted the peace.

Tiny red love hearts started to whiz between the teens, hardly seeming like fireworks. Gold stars suddenly twinkled far above everyone's heads and every now and again a small pop would go off above a couple's head and rain confetti down on them.

Rose let herself get lost in the moment; lost in Scorpius' eyes.

She forgot they were at school and she forgot her family were around.

Or more importantly, she didn't _care._

Instead she just kissed him, and let all her dreams come true.

...

"This is kind of cheesy." Louisa whispered into James' ear, sending shivers down his spine.

"Sorry." James stammered, his grip around her waist loosening. "Fred thought it would be a good idea and-"  
"I didn't say cheesy was bad." She laughed. James looked down at her - God she was beautiful - and smiled.

"Oh, well it was all thanks to me." James joked.

She laughed, and turned her head to look out at the Gryffindors that were dancing in front of them.

"That doesn't look real." She said quietly. "This doesn't feel real."  
"What do you mean?" James asked, absentmindedly looking out at the common room like she was.

"This feels like I'm dreaming."

"That's good tho- Wait." At the worst possible moment, something else caught James' eye. Louisa's arms dropped from around his neck as he moved away. "No." He said to himself, jumping down from the tables. He charged through the serene-looking couples, unwillingly leaving Louisa behind, to where his little cousin was playing tonsil Quidditch with Malfoy.

Dominique practically leapt in front of him, though, before he reached them.

"Leave them." She said simply, her voice irritatingly soothing.

"What? No! They're... they're kissing. Eugh, he has his hands-"  
"I know. But just... let them have tonight?"  
"No! I... Where's Fred!"  
"Anna practically dragged him upstairs.".

"To our room? Perfect!" James rolled his eyes. "Well then where's Al-"  
"James. Please don't make a big deal of this. Not tonight. For now just..." She looked over his head, before raising her eyebrows. "Isn't there a reason you went to all this effort tonight?" She asked meaningfully.

James nodded.

"Well Louisa's leaving." Dom shrugged, gesturing towards the portrait hole. "You can either stay and ruin tonight, or you can go and have a perfect evening yourself, and leave Rose and Scorpius to do the same."

James nodded again dumbly. Sometimes Dominique really was like his conscience.

He turned quickly, to see Louisa climbing out of the common room.

Once again, he ran through the couples and this time launched himself through the portrait hole.  
"Louisa!" he shouted, a bit too loudly now they were away from the music and in the silent corridor.  
She turned around. "Yeah?"

"I... er... Can I walk to you to your dorm?"

She raised her eyebrows at him, still smiling, and James pulled his hands out of his pockets nervously.

"You said cheesy was good." He shrugged, his foot tracing the line of the stone on the floor as he spoke.

"That's true. Come on then."  
They both walked in relative silence for a minute or two, before Louisa broke the tension by asking "How do you even know where my dorm is?"

James laughed slightly. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

"I can see that."

They carried on walking, until they were stood by a large picture of a knight, who walked away once they stopped by it. Once again Louisa broke the silence. "James can I ask you something?"  
James nodded, still nervous. He'd talked to girls before. He'd kissed girls before. But this was different; it was Louisa. And just being this close to her made him dizzy. "Yeah, anything."  
"Why did you change this year?"

"I didn't realise I changed."  
"I mean, why did you stop being that jackass that you were before?"

Instead of being offended, he bit his lip and replied honestly. "Because of my Dad. He told me about his parents."  
"Lily and James Potter?"

James nodded. Every now and again, he forgot that he was famous, and forgot that his entire family tree was printed in millions of books; of course she knew who his grandparents were.

"Well anyway, he told me about how his Dad loved Lily but, because he didn't really know what to do about it, he just acted like a prat around her."  
"Like..?"  
"Like asking her out constantly." Louisa smiled knowingly. "And anyway, he told me that his Dad must've changed, to finally get Lily to see who he really was. They were perfect for each other, they just needed to see it."

Louisa nodded, and James was vaguely - very vaguely due to the fact his eyes were practically glued to hers- aware of her stepping towards him slightly.

"Louisa, I think you're my Lily." His mouth said exactly what he was thinking, and he considered curling up in a ball of shame straight away.

"Well," she said quietly, her lips moving closer to his. "I know that you're my James."

Kissing her was more perfect than anything he could ever have imagined.

She was more perfect than anything he could ever have imagined.

And after years of waiting, James finally had his Lily.


	16. Good To Remember

Thankyou so very much for the reviews! They are just _incredible_! I can't say thank you enough, so please keep them going because they're so inspiring that I'm just writing like a ... steam train? I don't really know an analogy, but I know that I'm writing a lot! :L

Anyways, I love that you all loved my last line of the last part, but it was slightly ruined by my friend, who pointed out that it sounds like he's found his little sister... sooo not the angle I was going for! Hope I've not ruined it for you now... :) Anywayys, enjoy!

_**Disclaimer:**__ Harry Potter sure don't belong to me! Unfortunately!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixteen- Good To Remember)**

Everyone was practically dead the next day. Well every Gryffindor was practically dead the next day. Someone could have set off a dungbomb in the middle of the common room, and they still wouldn't have woken up.

And when they had eventually awoken to loud alarm clocks, they had speaking capacities similar to a troll and dragged themselves down the breakfast in whatever clothes they were wearing, incapable of caring, or threw up at the thought of food.

This was why Quidditch matches shouldn't be held on Sundays, Rose sat and thought as she, Scorpius and Al ate her breakfast completely silently. She could feel the other Gryffindors' eyes on them. They were like spotlights.

Thankfully, the rest of her family weren't at breakfast as they were part of the majority of Gryffindors who had chosen to avoid edible items.

"Pass the sugar?" Al said, rubbing his head.

"How much did you drink last night?" Scorp asked from beside her.

"Less than Fred and Louis, more than... everyone else?"  
"Well done." Rose sighed sarcastically, glancing up at him.

"I might've drunk a lot, but that doesn't mean I can't remember last night." He replied, his words making far more sense than they had before he drank coffee this morning.

Rose stared straight back into her cereal.

"Oh, am I the first person to mention it?" he asked, mockingly.

Rose glared. "Yeah, you are actually."

"First of many."

"Yeah, and how many people are going to talk about you and Madeline Fletcher?" Scorp joked back, slightly more kindly than Rose had been.

"Eh?" Al asked, tilting his head. "What did I do with Maddie?"  
"Maddie? You danced with her all night. Mate, I didn't even know you knew her!"  
"I do astronomy with her." He mumbled back.

"So, do you like her?" Rose asked teasingly, grateful of the change of subject, and taking pleasure in the idea that her high pitched voice would make Al feel even ill-er.

Maddie was one of her roommates, but even Rose didn't know that she had ever said a word to Al. She was quiet, but so ultimately lovely that she was impossible to dislike.

Al didn't reply but Rose wasn't surprised. Al never talked about himself, not really.

"So, who do you bet is still in bed right now?"  
"Fred, Louis, Roxy, Craig, James... Not Hugo. I saw him this morning going to the owlery with a letter." Al shrugged.

"About...?"

"About you two."

"To Mum and Dad?" Rose yelled loudly, hearing the Gryffindors around her groaning about the unexpected noise.  
"Probably more your Dad than your Mum."  
Rose shot up out of her seat.

"Oh, he is so dead!"

She turned to storm out of the hall, to come face to face with Scorp who had stood up and now just smiled at her.

"What?" she asked, slightly angrily considering shoving past him.

"Think about it. Hugo telling your parents means that we don't have to."  
Rose tilted her head.  
"Didn't think of it like that, did you?"

"No." She replied, feeling stupid. Revaluating, she thought it might be better than Rose didn't have to tell her Mum and Dad that she was going out with their enemy's son. "He's... He's going to kill me."  
"Nah, he's going to kill me." Rose looked down awkwardly at Scorpius' honesty. As much as they joked, she was genuinely scared of what her Dad could do to Scorp. As if Scorp knew what she was thinking, he changed the subject. "You know, now everyone knows I can-"  
"Please don't!" Al whined, his hands over his eyes.

"I was going to say I can hold her hand!" Scorp laughed. Rose smiled, and reached out her hand to him. "I wasn't really going to say that." He whispered, bending his head down and laughing softly.

"I'm not hungry anymore." Al said, pushing away his plate.

Rose and Scorp just laughed, and then walked hand in hand back to the common room. Al moaned all the way there as he followed.

When they got to the portrait hole, the fat lady smiled down at them, and then swung open.

And Rose crawled through first to come face to face with her cousins.

She mentally swore.

"Oi, you two, sit!" James shouted before throwing himself down on his place on the sofa.

Both Rose and Scorp nervously walked towards the sofa and sat down.

Rose had hoped they wouldn't have to go through this today; that her family would be too busy with hangovers or lessons to lecture them today.

"You too!" Fred told Al, after he'd tried to sneak away to his dorm without anyone spotting him.

He groaned, and sat down next to them reluctantly.

"Right then." Fred got up, and stood over the three of them with his arms crossed. "We all remember what happened yesterday night."  
"Do you really?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"Well, no. But the girls have told me!"

Rose raised her eyebrows at Dom and Roxy, who smiled apologetically back.

"So, what is this situation?" James asked, gesturing between Rose and Scorpius.

"I-" Rose started.

"I love her." Scorp shrugged. "I'm in love with her."

Rose turned and beamed at him. She never got bored of hearing him say that.

She could practically hear James' jaw dropping open, while Fred just stared between the two of them. Louis, Hugo and Al groaned and threw themselves backwards on the sofa, and Roxy, Lily and Dom "Aww"-ed in sync.

"I love him too." Rose said, almost apologetically, to her family.

After a few minutes of quite tense silence, Fred clapped his hands. "Right, ok. Rose do you mind going away for a bit-?"  
"And leave you alone with my boyfriend? I don't think so."

That was weird; she'd never called him her boyfriend before. It felt good though.

"Either leave, or we'll jump him when he doesn't expect it." James threatened; Rose wasn't sure whether or not he was joking.

Rose sighed. "Fine." She reached out and squeezed Scorp's hand before standing up.

"Roxy, Dom, Lily off you go." Fred said simply. All the girls groaned before standing up and stomping up the stairs, Rose following them.

Without fully registering where they were heading, Rose found herself in Dom and Anna's dorm.

Anna was sat on the bed, biting her pen.

"Oh, they sent you up here! You and Scorpius really must be serious!" Anna laughed, putting her books away and moving over on the bed so the other girls could spread themselves between there and Dom's bed.

"Ah, I always knew it would happen!" Dom laughed. Rose just blushed.

"What do you think they're doing to him?" she asked nervously.

"There are people down there, and lessons start soon, so they can't do that much damage." Roxy shrugged.

"Here's hoping." Rose said quietly.

...

"Right then."

James watched as Fred crossed his arms and sat between Al and Scorpius. Classic intimidation techniques, which had been perfected after years of Dom's boyfriends.

"What are your intentions towards our cousin?"

"Er." Scorp visibly bit his lip, looking nervous.

"Don't take too long to answer!" Louis warned, holding his head tiredly.

James just laughed. God they had this whole thing down to an art; it was almost scripted. James wondered if he even needed to be here for it. He wondered if he could leave and find Louisa. All he wanted was to find Louisa.

"I don't know. I intend to... love her?"

"By which you mean...?"  
"Oh give it a rest!" Al groaned. "He knows your just trying to scare him!"  
"Yeah, and by rights, you should be a part of it! Or are you okay with... wait. You already knew?" For someone so hungover that they had tried to wear their jumper as trousers, Fred was now surprisingly awake.

"Wait, you already knew?" James asked, coming out of his little daydream of the night before.

"Yeah."  
"Well why didn't you tell us?"  
"Because, it's none of my business. It's none of _our_ business." Al shrugged.

Fred groaned, standing up. "Your best friend dating your cousin is 'none of your business'!"

"Not really, I mean, it's not ideal. But at least they're both happy?"

"Fine, then we'll cut to the chase; basically, if you hurt her, we'll hurt you. About 1000 times worse... I think that's it? Right James?"

James nodded tiredly.

"Ok." Fred glanced at Scorp warily one last time before collapsing back on the sofa next to James.

"Haven't you guys got lessons to go to?" James asked simply.

The other boys nodded, and stood up. Louis yelled up the stairs to the girls' dorms to get them to come down, and slowly but surely the common room emptied out.

Until eventually there was just Fred and James.

"So, what else have can I not remember from last night? Did Al get a boyfriend? Dom get married?"  
James laughed. "Nah. Nothing much else happened-"

"Except you and Louisa." Fred nudged James hard in the ribs, which he didn't expect. "How have you not told me yet?"  
"How do you know!"  
"Roxy was talking about it."  
"How does she know!"  
"I don't know; maybe Louisa told her?"

James nodded.

"So, come on, tell me everything!"  
"There's not much to tell. We just kissed."  
"Yeah, and then what?"  
"What do you mean 'and then what'?"

"Well, I mean... what did you say afterwards? You didn't just walk off or-"

James stared at the floor.

The truth was he couldn't remember exactly what happened afterwards. And not because he was drunk, or because he didn't want to remember. Just because he'd been in such a daze, that he didn't completely remember how he got back to his dorm. He just woke up, knowing that he'd kissed Louisa the night before.

"What should I do? Should I talk to her?"  
"Duh! God, people say you're the smarter one of us two!" Fred groaned, then closed his mouth as if he was gasping for air. "Talk to her." He said, through lips that were hardly moving.

She was behind them.

"I'm going to bed." Fred said loudly, standing up and stretching dramatically. "Wake me up for Defence."  
James nodded embarrassedly, and Louisa just laughed slightly, sitting next to him.

"Hey." He said quietly to her. "So..."  
"So…"

They both laughed awkwardly.

James sighed. "Look, about last night-"  
Louisa bit her lip. "You regret it?"  
"No! N-no, that's not what I was going to say. Why, do you?"  
Louisa shook her head.

James smiled. "So what do we do now?"  
She bit her lip again, leaning towards him a little. "How about you ask me that question that you always used to?"  
He stared blankly at her, until it had processed through his mind and he understood. God, she made him stupid.

"Will you go out with me?"

He was right; her smile was the most beautiful thing in the world. And she was smiling so widely at him that James thought he might faint.

"Yes. I'd love to, James Potter." She leant towards him and kissed him softly on the lips.

Shivers flew down his spine to his fingertips. God, he loved her, not that he would tell her that yet.

"So, we're together?"  
She nodded.

Then James laughed, standing up. "Right then, got to go."  
"What?" she laughed back, turning around a little to look at him.

"I have to go and send an owl to someone."  
"Who?"

James smiled. "Who do you think? The Boy Who Lived, of course!"

He could hear her laughing as he headed out of the portrait hole.

And he couldn't wait to tell his Dad that he'd finally got his girl.


	17. What Do You Think?

Nawww thank all of you for your reviews! They really mean a lot! Keep them coming? Since it's Easter soon and I'm not allowing myself chocolate I will happily have reviews instead! :L

Anyway, in reply to _ccc, _I'm definitely going to throw in some Anna/Fred for you later, but they have something really big in a little while! Which was totally inspired by your review so... yeah. :)

Also, I'd like to say thank you to the many people who consistently review every chapter, as it really means a lot because I like seeing your journey in reviews as the story progresses. You know who you are, and you make me smile. :)

Anyways, I'll leave you to read. Sorry about the insane length, enjoy:

_**Disclaimer**__: Harry Potter still isn't mine, nothing's changed. Rupert Grint's autograph, on the other hand, now has pride of place on my wall next to a really cool PostSecret picture I found which said "When people say that they're suprised that such a smart woman has such immature taste in literature, I smile... and then Avada Kedavra their pretentious asses in my mind." But even that isn't actually mine. Damnnn.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventeen- What Do You Think?)**

Two major changes happened over that weekend, but it only took the family around five days to get virtually back to normal.

That Monday night, they teased James almost all evening about finally getting Louisa, and Scorpius and Rose were nowhere to be found, which prompted James and Fred to stay up all night until they eventually returned- from the room of requirement, apparently- and then threatened to curse Scorpius if he and Rose ever went missing again.

On Tuesday, Louisa came and sat with the family, and James put his arm around her and people teased them again. Well, more than anyone, Al teased him, but he was allowed to; little brother rules. Meanwhile, Fred glared at Scorpius when Rose snuggled up towards him in the cold while winter began to set in.

Wednesday, and Scorpius dared to put his arm around Rose in front of everyone at lunch, and although James and Fred groaned slightly there were no threats or glares that Al saw or heard. And that evening, James and Louisa were the ones who couldn't be found, until Roxy came into the common room and declared that she was fed up of seeing them kissing every time she opened a door and they stood sheepishly behind her having followed her to the common room.

When Thursday morning rolled around, James sat holding hands with Louisa almost all the way through Breakfast (Al did wonder how he managed to eat with one hand) and Al once again walked in on Scorpius and Rose on Scorpius' bed. When Al – admittedly stupidly- told Dom what he'd seen, she announced it to the entire Weasley/Potter clan, and although James and Fred threatened again, they didn't actually do anything, which was pretty surprising to Al.

And yesterday? Yesterday there had been no mention of either of the new relationships. Even though Rose and Scorpius had dared to kiss each other in the corridor (much to the delight of Al) and Louisa and James were unable to break contact with each other for the entire evening, none of the family members mentioned it. Because it wasn't new anymore, and everyone had turned back to their own priorities; Fred went back to being all lovey-dovey with Anna, Dom went back to flirting with anything in trousers. Roxy returned to her bossy head-girl ways, and Louis went back to teaching Hugo everything he knew about girls while Lily returned to being virtually invisible. And what was Al's prerogative? Al was trying to work out how he felt about Madeline Fletcher, and how she felt about him.

Sure, she was beautiful, he told himself; beautiful in a cute and adorable way. She had short blonde hair and dimples in her cheeks and deep hazel eyes and a really pretty smile... But she just wasn't the type of girl people would _expect_ him to go for. He knew it was stupid to let other people's expectations hold him back, but their expectations were the same as his.  
His issue was that every one of his cousins had got the best of the year. James and Fred had arguably got the two fittest and most popular girls of their year, not including their own cousins. Dom and Louis -and increasingly Hugo- had been out with anyone who was worth knowing while Roxanne was adored by the "hottest" boy of the whole school, and now even Rose and Scorpius had each other, and they who seemed to be regarded as popular and "hot" in their year for some reason Al couldn't fathom.  
Maddie wasn't the social type; when Al had mentioned her to James, James had actually asked who she was. No one asked who Louisa was.  
Maddie was just a little bit very invisible. Al hadn't even known she was in his year until they'd been partnered with each other in Astronomy. Rose had lived with Maddie for over six years now, and Al was sure she'd never mentioned her in all that time.

So fancying Maddie - if that was what he did - was a bit weird. He wasn't sure that he wanted to thrust her into the Potter-Weasley limelight if they started going out. It would be a major shock to the system for her.

Not that she'd necessarily go out with him anyway.

But he'd kissed her. And she'd kissed him. And the fireworks had twirled around them when they danced together. You don't forget something like that easily.

For once in his life, Al was being a coward; he had tried to avoid her for all he was worth. He had even missed astronomy and got a huge lecture from Professor Bright just so he could avoid her.

Pathetic.

What are you meant to say to someone when you have no idea how you feel about them?

...

Normally, Saturday mornings were the best day of the week. Normally Lily slept until one of her roommates woke her up accidentally (Lily and her roommates only ever used to talk accidentally), and then strolled down to the kitchens to beg for breakfast. Then she would sit in the common room, with whichever family member was around, and do her homework. And then, if she was finished in time, she would secretly get out her broomstick and fly around the grounds on it, wasting the rest of the day away. That was how she'd been able to play well at the Quidditch match, she thought; the practice of throwing conkers around in the sky every Saturday.

But this Saturday, Lily had to wake up early, which scrapped her dreams of an ideal weekend instantly.

It was a shame really, she'd had one of the best weeks of her life and it was now being ruined the rarity of a bad Saturday.

The only way she was really getting through it was knowing that one bad day couldn't completely trash her week.

This week, Lily had spoken to 64 (yes, she counted) new people. It started at the party, when everyone came up and congratulated her on her playing and Lily found that conversations weren't as hard as she had thought. She'd dared to go up and talk to the girls in her room, who had smiled and danced with her in the crowd all night. They were pretty cool, as it turned out. They weren't best friends, but at least now they spoke to her. The next morning at breakfast had been the same; people coming up, congratulating her on playing, asking her if she knew about Rose and Scorpius... There were billions of conversations that Monday. And Tuesday. By Wednesday she was going up and talking to people again, continuing conversations and building relationships. She even got some sort of sadistic pleasure out of rejecting Hugo's reserved seat for her to sit next to some other Gryffindor guys.

It was like she wasn't even Lily when she talked to these people; she didn't have to be the quiet girl she was around her family anymore. The problem was that she wasn't sure if she was being herself with her family or with everyone else, because one part of her was definitely being fake.

Lily was up early this Saturday morning as the Weasleys and Potters had agreed to and read the letter from their parents together, considering the week's events.

It was too early to be awake, though.

She started the morning by allowing herself ten more minutes' of sleep, then went downstairs to find the Weasley's corner almost empty. The only person sat there was Jake Thomas, Louis' best friend, writing an essay.

"They told me to tell you they've gone to breakfast. They got fed up of waiting."  
"All of them?" Lily groaned.

"All of them." Jake replied, putting down his quill and smiling up at her.

He was the person she danced with in the fireworks. She wasn't sure how, but they had been discussing the Quidditch match and then the music had started and it had just happened.

She tilted her head slightly. She'd not seen him since that night really, but right now she felt as if she'd never really _seen _him before.

He was cute. He had Quidditch muscles (a concept Isla, one of Lily's roommates had been explaining to her the previous night) and chocolate-coloured eyes. And a really sweet smile; the type that seemed completely for her.  
And he was her cousin's best friend. God, it was Rose and Scorpius all over again.  
He was the year above though, and major-league popular; he was best friends with a Weasley, hot, and quite an amazing Quidditch player, so he'd never go for Lily anyway.  
Stupid school-kid crushes.

She unwillingly blushed, but didn't say anything. She was going back to normal Lily, the Lily she was growing to hate.  
He just went back to his essay, glancing up and smiling at her once or twice as his pen scratched the paper.

Lily just sat in silence, snuggling into the jumper her Grandmother had knit her, looking up at Jake and thinking about the changes of the last week and listening to the fire crackling.

The relative calm of the situation was wrecked when her cousins came back inside.  
"Oi oi, Lily's up!"

"You took your time, sleeping beauty!" James laughed, sitting on the sofa then putting his arm around Louisa who sat next to him. Fred sat at the other end, and Anna sat between him and Louisa. It was weird to see them perfectly coupled up.

"Shut up guys!" Roxanne laughed, sitting down on the fireplace as she was expected to. Craig wasn't with her; probably doing some sort of head-boy duty.

Dom sat next to Lily, smiling at her, and Louis sat next to Jake after high-fiving him. Hugo sat on Lily's other side and Scorpius, Al and Rose sat on the spare sofa, Al looking slightly awkward as Rose leant her head on Scorpius' shoulder tiredly.

"Right, read the letter then it's Quidditch time!" James smiled over at Lily and she smiled back. As much as she was looking forward to her first official Quidditch practice she'd prefer to be in bed. She wasn't about to tell him that though; she didn't want him to think she was ungrateful.  
"Oooh, wait!" Roxy said, jumping up and then stepping on the table. Everyone looked at her like she'd turned insane. "Hogsmeade weekend in two weeks!" She yelled loudly to the Gryffindors in the common room who turned their heads."Last one before Christmas!" she flicked her wand and a notice appeared on the notice board. "Right, now that's done."

She sat back down on the fireplace as if nothing had happened, and the family stared at her slightly. "Me and Craig forgot to tell everyone. Sorry."

"Let me guess, it just got knocked out of your head?"

Roxy sighed. "Are we reading this letter or what?"  
"Yeah." Dom pulled out an envelope from the pocket of her hoodie, and unfolded the letter within it. "Mind if I do the honours?"  
Everyone shook their heads, and Dom cleared her throat.

"'_Hi kids,'_" she began. "I think this is Aunt Hermione; _'Wow, you've sure had an eventful term. I thought we were busy at Hogwarts! We're so proud of you for winning the match against Slytherin, and James we're very proud of you for letting your sister play. Well done Lily, we always knew you'd be brilliant when you got the chance. You all seem to be growing up and doing new things and it's brilliant, but please remember to concentrate on your studies, especially you older ones. The NEWTS are the most important thing you'll ever do in your education and you need to-' _and then her writing stops. This writing's practically illegible-"  
"That'll be Dad." Rose laughed.

"Yeah, it sounds like Uncle Ron. _'Blah blah blah, who cares about school when you beat Slytherin! Haha, I wish I was there to see the looks on the ugly buggers' faces! Don't get too comfortable though, you've not got the cup yet, and that's all that matters in your whole school life. James, you'll never forgive yourself if you don't get to lift up that trophy - you'll be the first Weasley to ever do it since your Uncle Charlie! He'll hate you for it; you have to do it! Don't let..." _Dominique suddenly started laughing, which clearly frustrated James.

"Don't what?" he whined.

"'_Don't let this Louisa girl distract you too much, Quidditch is far more important than any girl in the universe... with the exception of my beautiful wife!'_" Most of the kids had started laughing from the second Ron's part of the letter had started, but now tears had started to cloud her eyes as she tried to supress her giggles. It was weird, hearing letters from the parents. After not hearing from them so long, it was like they were suddenly back with their family, having their parents lecture them without giving them a chance to interrupt. It made Lily miss her Mum, her Dad, her home; it made Lily miss everything that wasn't at Hogwarts with her.

"Oooh, it's Aunt Ginny's writing!" Dom said, through her laughter. "She says _'Nice save there, Ron. Seriously kids, well done on the Quidditch. You all seem to be doing really well. Oh, before I forget; Fred, your Dad says he'll never speak to you again if you don't bring him a toilet seat and although I'm not advocating bad behaviour, I would get on that!'_"

They all laughed again, and Fred smiled "They make it sound like it's going to be hard!"

"Shh, it's Uncle Harry's writing now; '_Congratulations James, I'm glad you've found happiness in your last year. We can't wait to meet Louisa. The same goes for Scorpius, Rose. And yes, we are being genuine, and yes, even your Dad agrees. Although he is scowling right now... Well, he agreed after some firewhiskey anyway. We'll keep him drunk, it'll be ok.'_" Rose laughed nervously, and Scorpius bit his lip. Lily just smiled at them. "That sounds like a plan!" Dom joked. "It's Aunt Hermione's writing again; _'Anyway, we are all so happy that you're having such a good year at school, and we just wanted to update you on the situation at home: everything's the same, nothing's changed. Except, Victoire is...' _no way!"  
"Victoire is what?" Louis asked, sitting up frustratedly.

"She's getting married to Teddy."  
"No way!" Roxy laughed.

"Yeah, Hermione says they announced it last week." Dominique shrugged, and Lily wondered for a second if something was bothering her, but then continued to read. "'_Finally, your Grandmother has asked us to ask you all which of you are coming home this Christmas, so she knows how many mouths she has to feed. We love you so very much. Keep studying'_ Ron's written _'and practicing'_. '_Love from your parents._' Then there's like, 5 kisses."

"Nice." Fred nodded.

"Th-they're ok with me and you!" Rose laughed, turning to Scorpius and hugging him, earning eye rolls from Al.

"Did you hear the same letter?" Al asked sarcastically.

"So... are we going home for Christmas or not?" Roxy asked, changing the subject and standing up and taking control in her own Head-girl way.

There was a reply of "No" from everyone; Rose wanted to stay with Scorpius, Fred didn't want to leave Anna, and James decided to stay with Louisa, who (along with Roxy and Craig) had to stay to do heads' duties. Dom didn't want to leave without the rest of them, and Al had already agreed to stay for extra potions lessons over Christmas. Hugo and Louis agreed they "couldn't be bothered to pack."

"Right, then we're all staying!" Roxy nodded. "Guess we're done here then! I'll go write back."

Lily had never actually agreed to this. She'd actually not spoken. She wanted to go home.

Before she had a chance to speak and tell her family this though, Roxy had left and everyone else had started to leave as well. In fact, by the time she'd looked up again, everyone was gone, leaving just Jake again.

"You never said you wanted stay." Jake told her quietly after a few minutes of silence.

After recovering from the slight shock of hearing him speak, Lily laughed unhappily under her breath. "I know."  
"Why didn't you say anything?"  
"Because I wouldn't want to go home on my own anyway, really." She lied. The truth was she'd love to go home on her own. It might be completely self-centred but she'd love to be centre of attention just once in her own family.

Jake nodded. "Fair enough. Listen, I was thinking, you know next weeks the Hogsmeade weekend?"  
"Yeah." Lily replied, confusedly. Jake was acting weirdly, in fact, when she thought about it, it was weird that he hadn't left when Louis had.

"I was wondering if you'd, maybe, want to go with me?"

She nodded, somehow. And stuttered, wondering if she'd just hallucinated. "Are... are you asking me out?"  
"Yes, or-or no. You know; whatever..."  
"So you are asking me out." She smiled.

He just nodded nervously.

"Yeah, I guess." She smiled. "What harm can one weekend do?"

He smiled back at her. "So, are we going to Quidditch practice?"  
She nodded, then stood up. "Yeah."  
They walked together, in a weird silence that managed not to be too awkward.

Maybe this Saturday wasn't going to be so bad after all.


	18. Not Everything's Perfect

Hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews. They're seriously overwhelming.  
This chapter's a little different, as it focuses on different people, but through writing this I've realised that I like writing as these guys, so you'll definitely be getting a few more parts from their POVs. :)

Update day after tomorrow... I'm starting to get more regular with them and they're now every other day! Proud of myself! :L

Thankyou for reading.

_**Disclaimer**__: If Harry Potter was mine, I wouldn't've killed off Fred. It's not mine, so Fred's dead. Oooh that rhymes! Oh, and Happy Birthday to the Weasley twins! (1/4/2010)

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Eighteen- Not Everything's Perfect)**

As much as she pretended, Dom was not effortlessly beautiful. She would plait her hair so it waved perfectly, but then tell people that it just fell like that naturally. Or she'd wear makeup that was so undetectable that everyone would think it was just inherited perfection. It wasn't. Nothing about Dominique was perfect. Her sister was the beautiful one, her cousin was the clever one, her other cousins were the funny ones, and her little cousins were fast becoming just as exceedingly good at everything as the rest of the family. She was… what? The Hot One? The Slutty One? And even that was fake.

It hadn't always been this way. Her life used to be just as flawless as she now pretended; she used to be as flawless as she now pretended. But this summer, everything had started to unravel and now it just kept on falling apart.

She blamed her sister. Her sister who she used to be so unbelievably close to. She blamed her for being so honest. She liked it when she didn't see the problems. She loved her old outlook on life; life was short, so why waste it worrying?

That changed when she was told she was selfish. When her own sister told Dom that life wasn't as easy as she thought it was. That if Dom carried on being so immune to the hurt she inflicted on everyone, no one would ever want to be around her.

Of course, Dom screamed back. Why would anyone care what Victoire had to say? She was probably the most stupid Weasley to ever hit Hogwarts. The only reason she was going out with Teddy was to get him to earn all the money so she didn't need a job; she was just like their mother.

She didn't mean it, of course. But, all the same, her sister had stormed off and they hadn't spoken since.

Stupidly, Dom had hoped it would blow over. Clearly it hadn't; Vic hadn't even told her about marrying Teddy. Sisters were meant to share these things; maybe to Vic they weren't sisters anymore?

The rest of the family didn't even know they weren't talking. Not even Louis. Maybe because they hadn't seen Vic in so long, they hadn't had a chance to see how _wrong_ things were between them.

It was this stupid, stupid argument that had changed Dom. Not obviously; she'd carried on as if nothing had happened, but now she was thinking more. She thought about how Edward must've felt when she broke up with him. She saw her cousins rolling their eyes slightly when she talked to a new guy. She wondered whether there was one guy in the whole school (cousins not included) that liked her for who she was, not for what she looked like.

There was one year left. One year. It was supposed to be the best year of her life, supposedly; So far it was just breaking her apart more.

As much as she pretended, Dom was not effortlessly happy. Right now, she wasn't even happy.

...

"James, I swear, if I open the door to you two snogging each other's faces off one more time!" Fred groaned, throwing himself on his bed.

James and Louisa were getting annoying. Every time he opened a door, there they were. He was glad they were happy, truly, but it was every single spare second...

"Jeez mate, have you seen you and Anna recently?" James said, over Louisa's shoulder.  
"We're nothing like that!" he replied, folding his arms.

"Sure, so how did you guys say goodbye?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.  
"Merlin, she's going to hang out at Roxy's for one night! She's not moving to Tokyo! You two don't even spend every night together, you don't need to say goodbye! God, have a night off from the disturbing public displays of affection."

James just laughed sarcastically, before kissing Louisa again. He mumbled some sort of goodbye to her, but Fred had stopped listening. He was wondering where Anna was; his brain tended to wander to thinking about Anna.

He seriously couldn't last a night without her. He could tell everyone else he could, but he couldn't lie to himself.

When did he become this pathetic?  
He didn't used to be like this with girls. Anna had just changed everything. She'd been so hard to get, so hard to keep... she was so valuable to him.

She was the only person Fred could really be honest with. Occasionally, not often. But she was the only person who knew about the stupid things Fred worried about; was he really who he was, or was he just a mock replacement of his dead Uncle, just a few generations later? Did he really want to take over his father's shop, or was it just the future he had been brought up to want? Would he be anything like he was if he didn't have the name he was given? Stupid things, really.

"Bye Fred."

Fred blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, bye Lou."

She walked out of the room, and the second the door shut behind her James sighed dramatically.

"James, your crossing the line from in-love to pathetic. Please join me back on the sane side."

James laughed in response, and then threw himself backwards onto his bed.

They sat in silence for a while, before Fred laughed awkwardly. "Not being funny, but what are we actually meant to do without the girls around?"  
James sat up, and tilted his head. James and Fred hadn't actually been alone without the subject of Quidditch to discuss for forever.

"I don't know." James shrugged.  
"God. We're definitely on the pathetic side of the line, right?"  
"Definitely."

"Well... what do you think they'll be doing?"  
"Gossiping about us, probably."  
"With Dom and Roxy around? Bugger."  
"I know. I think girls gossip all the time. Have you never noticed they seem to just know everything?

"Huh, do you remember when we used to think girls had their own sort of Legilimency?" Fred asked.

James nodded.

"I still think we're right!" Fred laughed.

For a while, they sat and listed reasons for this theory; girls always knew what to say, tended to know what was wrong, smiled at each other in weird points in conversations... the list was endless.

"Seriously, James, when did we become those guys that are defined by their girlfriends?"  
"Speak for yourself, I think we're defined by our surnames!"

Fred laughed; maybe he and James could exist without their girlfriends, just for one night.

...

Roxy had been looking forward to tonight for ages; girls' night in.

She had practically forgotten what life was like without Craig by her side. It was like she didn't exist without him. Roxy-and-Craig had practically become one word. They lived together, slept together, worked together, ate together... everything was together.

So tonight, without him around, was weird. It was like there was some sort of emptiness.

She wasn't alone in feeling this though, she could tell.

Louisa and Anna had been laughing at Dom's stories of stupid James and Fred moments all night, constantly asking for more and more information about their boyfriends. Dom hadn't seemed to mind; she seemed to like the distraction.

Roxanne mentally added _Check everything's ok with Dominque_ to the checklist in her head. The endless checklist in her head.  
Even tonight, she hadn't relaxed the way she wished she would. She worried about Craig doing head's duty on his own, or the still only half done Potions essay on the table. She was still worrying about it now, despite the fact she was supposed to be asleep.

The more she analysed the fact she couldn't sleep, the less she was able to close her eyes. Eventually, she gave up, pulled the covers off her and reached for her wand.

"Lumos." She whispered, lighting the room up slightly. She stepped carefully over Louisa, Anna and Dom (who were asleep on the mattress which had been dragged over from Lou's room) and made her way out of her room.

Not completely sure what she wanted to do now, she sat down on the sofa and stared into the empty fireplace.

She loved these dorms. There was something so important and beautiful and special about them. The only thing she missed about the Gryffindor common rooms was the fact that, if you went downstairs around midnight, there would always be someone to talk to. Anyone. When you share a dorm with only three people, it's far less likely.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

Roxy heard his voice before she actually saw him, but then turned around and smiled.

"Couldn't sleep." She shrugged.

Craig sat down next to her, and stretched his arm out. Roxy leaned herself against him and he put his arms around her shoulders.

"Better?"

She nodded.

Pathetic. That's what she was; she couldn't make it one night without seeing her boyfriend.

"How was head's duty?" she yawned.

"Same as always; a few pain-in-the-ass Slytherins but nothing I couldn't handle."

Roxanne laughed slightly, but both of their voices were starting to sound far away as she closed her eyes.

Craig seemed to slide down the sofa, so he was lying down with her resting on his chest. Then she felt a blanket pull over her shoulders.

"Thankyou." She mumbled, barely thinking. "Iloveyou."

"You too. Night."

She could feel herself falling asleep in his arms. She felt so safe and... perfect. That was what her life was at this second; perfectly pathetic.


	19. Our Secret

I'd like to apologise to you all, after going on about how regular my updates were getting I am now a whole day late. _Appalled. At. Myself_. Only, I bought a new laptop so I had to copy everything over. It was very difficult, seen as I'm such a computer retard.

Anyway, here's update. Hope you like it. :) Reviews are very much appreciated, and I'd love for them to keep coming.

_**Disclaimer: **__I may be watching Harry Potter right this second, but I only own the dvds and a vhs, and no rights to any of the characters, or previous story, which are the properties of JK Rowling.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Nineteen- Our Secret)**

Lily loved having other people do her hair. Right now, Lily was sat on the floor with Dom over her shoulder on the sofa, pulling her hair up and then placing it back down.

Lily, of course, hadn't really given a reason for wanting her hair doing. Then again, Dom hadn't really asked; Lily had just vaguely said "Hogsmeade" and Dom had nodded acceptingly.

Today, Lily was going out with Jake. And because of this, she was acting even more unusually than before; she'd got up at a ridiculous hour to choose her outfit, and persuaded Roxy to do her makeup for her, and now Dom was playing with her hair contentedly.

She didn't even care that she was being pathetic; she was excited.

She had been excited ever since he asked her out two weeks ago. Since then, she'd not really had a chance to talk to him other than last week's Quidditch practice, but they'd smiled at each other across the common room almost every night.

Now today was finally here.

Looking out of the window, the day couldn't be more perfect. The snow had finished falling after the night before, and was now just floating around the air perfectly. Everything was covered with snow. Layers of it had formed a blanket over the trees, the ground, the castle... it was beautiful.

It was cold though, Lily learnt that once she was ready and walking towards the gates.

For once, she felt like a _Weasley girl_. She knew, somehow, that she didn't look quite as stupid as normal. In fact, she looked good. Dom had eventually decided that Lily's hair looked best left down in soft curls around her shoulders, after an hour's deliberating and she'd also said that Lily's clothes looked nice. No one had ever complimented Lily on her clothes before. She was wearing jeans, tucked into her soft grey boots. She had decided to wear quite a baggy jumper, which was cream and grey striped and then she'd thrown the nearest bracelets over the top of the one she always wore from her parents, and had grey mittens and a matching scarf on as an attempt to stay warm. It was no Dominique-outfit, but it suited her down to a tee.

"Name?" Roxy asked absentmindedly, after Lily had queued with the other pupils to get to the gates.

"Lily Potter. You know, the cousin that you've had for the last fourteen years."  
Roxanne looked up from her register and laughed. "Sorry, Lils. This kind of gets boring after... two minutes."  
Lily smiled.

"Where are the rest of the motley crew then?" Roxy asked, looking over Lily's shoulders.  
Lily shrugged in response. "I don't know; I think they're coming down later."  
"Who're you going with then?" Roxy asked nosily, smiling.

"No one." Lily smiled coyly. "Can I go now?"  
Roxy scanned through the register, and then flicked her quill.  
"Feel free. Have fun with _no one_." Lily laughed slightly, and then began to walk down the path towards Hogsmeade. "Not too much fun!" she heard Roxy shouting after her, which only made Lily laugh harder.

Despite the fact that she was walking alone, with a number of groups of pupils chattering around her, Lily still didn't feel lonely. Not like she used to, anyway. If anything, she quite liked being alone. It hadn't happened for a little while now.

She knew where she was supposed to meet Jake; he'd said outside the shrieking shack. To Lily, this seemed a little weird, but she'd agreed anyway.

It took her around twenty minutes for her to reach the old, creaking building. It was longer than she'd guessed, so she expected him to be waiting for her.

He was.

He was sat on a bench by the shack, looking up absentmindedly at the sky despite the fact that snow must've been falling directly into his eyes. Merlin, he was good looking. Although Lily knew she looked alright for once in her life, she still didn't feel good enough for _him_. They weren't even on the same scale. He was so perfect in every way, and Lily was just… Lily.

It was stupid, while she'd made such a big deal of what to wear and how to look, Jake looked as if he was just effortlessly gorgeous. He just had a Quidditch jumper on, with jeans and a large coat, but still managed to out-do Lily in every way.

The feeling of inadequacy was almost enough to make her turn around, until she realised how stupid that would be. If nothing else, she had the opportunity to go on a date with Jake Thomas; her roommates would kill her if she stood him up.

"Hey." She said quietly, touching him lightly on the shoulder and sitting next to him nervously.

"Hey. You look... good."  
Lily smiled, feeling herself blush a little. "You too."

He sighed, almost nervously. What would he have to be nervous about? He was Louis Weasley's best friend; he had surely been out with millions of girls. Lily was nothing special.

"So, what's the plan?" Lily asked, taking control. She was weirdly relaxed, compared to him anyway.

"Er, well. I don't know. I was thinking we could just, walk?"  
"Walking sounds good."

"You don't need to go into the village for anything do you? Last minute Christmas presents or-?"  
"Walking's good." Lily repeated, and he smiled back at her.

They stood up silently, and began to trudge through the thick snow. Although they were silent, it didn't seem to be an awkward silence; more of an understanding silence. It was like they didn't need to talk.

They walked up a hill, Jake must know where he was going, Lily thought, because she had no idea.  
"Ever been up here before?" he asked.  
Lily shook her head. "I've never been past the shack before."  
Jake nodded. Lily was intrigued as they continued to climb up the hill, which was getting steeper as opposed to evening out.

Stupidly, she tripped over a root of a tree that she didn't see under the snow. She felt herself about to hit the ground, but Jake caught her before she did. He pulled her up, and kept his hands on her shoulders.

"You ok?" he asked, smiling. He seemed less nervous the higher up the hill they climbed.

Lily just nodded wordlessly in reply. She was slightly hypnotised by his eyes, and completely distracted by his face so close to hers.

He let go, and turned to go back up the hill.

Lily followed, carefully looking down on the floor for anything trip-able. Not that she necessarily wanted to avoid them; part of her wanted Jake to catch her again.

"Here." Jake reached out his hand, and Lily climbed over a rock in front of her to find herself on the edge of a cliff.

She stuttered nervously as Jake took her hand and pulled her forwards a little.

"Look up from the ground." He commanded quietly. Lily did as she was told and saw the most beautiful view she'd ever imagined.

Hogwarts looked perfect against the backdrop of the white hills, the icy lake in front of it glinting in the slight sunlight. But Hogwarts seemed pretty far away, when her eyes adjusted, and she realised that almost right in front of her was the entirety of snow-covered Hogsmeade. She was close enough to be able to make out individuals, but far enough away to feel completely removed from everything. She spotted Rose and Scorpius holding hands coming out of the Three Broomsticks, and Louis and Hugo squabbling by Zonkos. After a second of searching, she saw Fred with his arms around Anna, obviously trying to warm her up in the cold. Although far away, Lily could even see Roxy and Craig at the gates of Hogwarts.

"Pretty cool, right?" Jake smiled, sitting down next to where she stood in the snow.  
"Pretty amazing." She replied, sitting next to him, not caring about the cold or the wet snow soaking her jeans.

"I found this spot a few years ago. No one knows about it though, so you can't tell anyone."

"Deal." Lily replied in agreement, still staring out at the village.

"You're the first person I've ever brought up here."  
Lily turned her head and smiled gratefully at him.

"You've never brought Louis up here then?"  
"Nah. We share a lot of things, but this place is too special, even for him."

Lily laughed slightly. "Does he know?"  
"Know what?"  
"That you're here with me."

Jake shook his head. "I told him, but he laughed. I think he thought I was joking."  
"Yeah... well the idea of anyone going out with me is quite funny." Lily replied, honestly.  
"Why would you say that?" He asked incredulously. He was staring into her eyes, almost as if he was slightly angry with her for what she had said.  
"Have you seen my family? I'm nothing compared to them."

Jake shook his head. "I don't think that. I think you're better than them." He sighed. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to ask you out for. Since third year, when you were in second year and a spider was in the common room and you screamed for ages. You were adorable."  
"That was stupid, not adorable." Lily replied simply.  
"I disagree."

Lily smiled, thinking back to that day. She'd never really thought anything of that moment before; she screamed at every spider, for which she blamed her Uncle and his stupid stories.  
"Dom was so unfazed by the spider. She just picked it and walked off." Lily said, out loud, while remembering. She'd thought her cousin was so brave for just throwing the spider away, and not squirming or shrieking in the childish way Lily had.

"You always seem to compare yourself to your cousins."  
"You would too if you had such perfect relatives!"  
Jake smiled. "You're just as perfect as they are." he said shyly.  
"I'm not, I just follow in their footsteps."  
"Why don't you just make your own?"

Lily smiled, but just smiling at him didn't seem like enough. It wouldn't show him how grateful she was for what he said, or for showing her this place... for everything.

So instead she nervously leant over towards him, and placed her lips on his, closing her eyes.

This was the most beautiful moment of Lily's life.

...

Rose felt Scorp's arms around her waist as he pulled her down onto the bench. She felt herself landing on his knee and smiled. He kissed her sweetly, and she returned the favour.  
Every now and again, Rose would feel like this; like she and Scorp were in their own little world, and right now, with the snow floating around them and Scorp's hands wrapped around her waist, Rose would far rather stay in this world.

"Oh merlin, my eyes!" Hugo yelled, turning around and shielding his eyes as if he'd gone blind. His friends, who Rose didn't know the names of, laughed.

"Haha, you're so _funny_!" Rose glared at her brother, before reluctantly moving off Scorp's knee onto the cold bench next to him.

"I don't think I'm ever going to recover!" Hugo whined dramatically, earning yet more laughs from his friends. How Hugo had that many stupid followers Rose would never know; she blamed the surname.

"Oh, shut up!" Rose moaned.

"Make me!" He replied, sticking out his tongue.

If there was a curse that would mean Hugo was forced to see just how annoying he was, Rose would use it right now.

Instead she crossed her arms, and raised her eyebrows at her brother daringly.

"So, where's Georgia?" She asked, in a sing-song voice. "Because if you think we're gross, you clearly need a mirror."

"Me and Georgie aren't gross!" Hugo said, crossing his arms.

"Aww, is Hugh-Hugh in love with Georgie-Porgie?" Rose teased, imagining whatever Fred would say.

"Don't call her that!"  
"Aww, he weally is in wove!" Rose nudged Scorp satisfactorily, who smiled back at her.

"Rose, shut up!" Hugo whined, stomping his foot, something which made Rose and Scorp simply burst into laughter. Hugo's friends joined them in their laughter, which annoyed Hugo, and further pleased Rose.

"Are you leaving us alone now?" Rose asked, tilting her head at her brother.

"God, _Rosie_, I wasn't even coming to talk to you!" He replied, having regained his cool-guy composure. "I just wondered if you've seen Lily?"  
"Nope, Roxy told me she came down alone. She's on a date or something." Rose shrugged.

"A date? I haven't seen her with anyone. And she's not going out with anyone in our year because I'd know!"  
"Oh yes, Mr Popularity, of course you'd know!" Rose replied sarcastically.

"Mr Popularity, who's he kidding?" Rose turned to see Fred, Anna and (for some reason) Louis behind her, and smiled. Fred was pretty perfect for the mood she was in.

"Fred, you've not seen Lily anywhere with anyone have you? Apparently she's on a date?"  
"Lily? Dating? God, we should be so glad James isn't in Hogsmeade today!"

Rose was about to ask exactly where James was, but then thanked herself for being smart; if Louisa wasn't on gate duty she'd be in the castle, and lately wherever Lou was, James was.

"Why are you with them?" Hugo asked, as he'd apparently only just realised Louis' presence.

Louis shrugged. "Jake's already here, somewhere. I think he mentioned something about today, but I can't remember what so-"  
"So you're all on your lonesome!" Fred teased, hitting the blonde boy on his shoulder.

Louis crossed his arms, similarly to the way Hugo had earlier.

"You can come to The Three Broomsticks with us if you like?"  
"Oooh, you and your crew!" Rose said sarcastically. "We've got a right gang leader on our hands here, Fred."

Fred laughed, and Hugo glared at his sister. He seemed to really hate it when Fred laughed at him.  
"Get lost, _Rosie_, and hop back on your boyfriend."

Rose spent slightly too long blushing, and Hugo and his _crew_ were walking away before she had time for a comeback, Louis leading with him.

"Shame, he got you there!" Fred joked, nudging her in the back before walking off. "See you in the common room tonight, yeah? We'll get him back then."  
Rose smiled at him, then turned and looked at Scorp exhaustedly. "I hate my family." She whined.

"You love them really." He sighed, putting his arm around her shoulders. "They're better than mine."  
"But they're everywhere. All the time."  
"Not everywhere. They can't get in our room."  
"That's true." Rose sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder. They spent all the time they could get free in the Room Of Requirement, which always made itself the common room from that Christmas Eve. It meant that night no longer held horrible memories for her; they'd cancelled them out. "We could always head up there now, if you wanted. I'm kind of cold."  
Scorp smiled, nodded his head, and stood up, holding his hand out to Rose. Taking it, they started to walk back to Hogwarts.

"What do you want for Christmas, Rose?" He asked when they were near the school, after walking in beautiful silence for a while.

Rose shrugged. "I don't need anything; I have you."  
"Haha, yeah that's cute; what can I _buy_?"

Rose smiled. "Seriously? Nothing. You can do something for me though."  
"Anything."  
"Meet me in the common room, by the fireplace, at like 5 in the morning?"

He smiled. "I'd love to."

She smiled up at him, and they continued to walk.

"But seriously, what shall I get you?"

Rose rolled her eyes. She could honestly think of nothing; she had all she could ever (or would ever) need.


	20. Understanding

Hey guys, update as promised!  
I didn't get as many reviews as last time. :( But thankyou very much to the people who did review. _Please _keep them coming! They're so inspiring, you have no idea... :)

_**Disclaimer:**__ Harry Potter's not mine. Nor are his children, his friends or his family. They're all JK Rowling's.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty- Understanding)**

Al wasn't looking where he was going. He blamed detention for that one.

He was sure there must be some sort of rule against a _family friend_ giving him detention. Sure, he knew it was wrong for him to try and play the But-my-Dad's-Harry-Potter-and-you-helped-him-save-the-world card, but it was worth a shot. Professor Longbottom wouldn't even listen though.

This detention wasn't even his fault; he blamed Rose for it this time. He wasn't even copying Scorpius, he was just checking that he'd got the right answers... for the questions he hadn't done yet. But Rose just had to say, nice and loudly "Albus Potter, are you copying?"

Why did Longbottom have to be paying attention, for once in his career?

So Al hadn't got to go to Hogsmeade, not that he'd necessarily want to go with his Rose and Scorp now they were always _together, _had to send Fred with money to Zonkos (which may not be overly smart) and instead had to be bored to death in the greenhouses, putting scarves around mandrakes.

At least he had been warm, slightly. But it was so boring, he had almost fallen asleep about four times.

This was why he wasn't looking where he was going.

And this was why, when he looked up and down the corridor he was walking down, he was only metres from Madeline Fletcher.

He begged she hadn't seen him, and then unsubtly turned around and tried to walk back down the corridor. Unfortunately, he was being followed by a group of first year girls, who he walked straight into. Squeals of "Oh my god, it's Albus Potter!" filled his ears.

He couldn't see a way to move past the small girls without knocking them down, so reluctantly turned back around and walked in his original direction towards Maddie.

In a last ditch attempt to make him not notice her, he looked up at the ceiling, wishing he had some way of getting the invisibility cloak.

Maybe he should've looked forward, though, because he slammed right into her.

"Maddie hey!" He said fakely, as if he'd only just noticed her.

She leaned her head to the side, and laughed slightly. "Hey, Al."  
Al rocked back and forth on his feet. He was stupid; he'd started this conversation yet he now had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"You've been avoiding me, right?" She asked simply.

Al laughed nervously. He couldn't physically lie, but God knows he was going to try. "No-no I've just been busy and-"  
"You've missed three Astronomy lessons." She replied, matter of factly. Al wished they were walking or something, at least then this wouldn't be so awkward, because they would eventually reach the common room and they could go their separate ways. Or there would be a window along the way which Al could throw himself out of. "And there's always the fact that you just tried to turn around when you saw me; a sure sign I'm being avoided."

Al just stared at the floor. "Sorry."

"Why then?"

"W-why what?"  
"Why are you avoiding me?"  
Al bit his lip. "I just... The party and everything. I didn't want things to be weird... not that I regret kissing you I just-"

"Kissing me?"

Al stared for a second. "Well, yeah-"  
"Just kissing me? Is that... That's all you remember?"

Al nodded dumbly. He'd never been this confused before in his life, and he'd listened to Rose and Scorpius discussing ancient runes. "That's all that happened, right?"

Maddie just shook her head, and walked past him.

Al swore repeatedly in his head. He was not going to be one of those guys that embarrassed themselves by shouting after a-

"Maddie!" he yelled, earning weird looks off a few people.

She didn't even turn around.

Al stared at her back for moment, before realising he was still getting weird looks and starting to walk away.

Turning the corner, he slammed into Rose and Scorpius, who were holding hands.

He really needed to start looking where he was going.

"You alright mate?" Scorpius asked, letting go of Rose's hand and running his own through his hair awkwardly.

"Er, yeah. I'm ok." He started to walk alongside them, not wanting to ask if they'd had fun in Hogsmeade. He didn't want too much information. "Listen, is there a spell to get memories back?"  
"Er, yeah; hundreds." The advantage of having smart friends, Al thought, was that you never actually had to know anything for yourself. Maybe that was why his Dad hung out with Aunt Hermione, other than them being best friends of course? "You can reverse any memory spells pretty easily-"

"No, not spells. I mean things you can't remember because you were... drunk."  
"Ooh. That's not so easy." Rose replied simply. Together, she and Scorpius really were a walking textbook. "There's one or two that might work but apparently they turn you into a total lightweight and mean you pass out after a glass of firewhiskey so-"

"I might go for that; I'm thinking I may never touch alcohol again right now."  
"Why, what do you need to remember?"

"The party. There's huge chunks of it that I can't remember," Al told them as they started to head up the stairs, "and I didn't think it was too important until…Wait, Maddie hasn't said anything to you has she?" he asked Rose.  
"No. Not mentioned anything to do with you-"  
"Perfect!" Al said sarcastically.  
"Well, maybe we can help?" Scorpius suggested.

"Ok...well, what time did I get in?" Al figured he may as well start by working out just how little he knew about that night.

"Right, what time did you leave my room?" Scorpius asked Rose, who bit her lip as she always did when she was thinking.  
"Wait, why was she in our- no. I'm not even going to ask."

"I left at one." Rose replied, slightly nervously. For a second, Al considered questioning exactly why she was in their room so late, and what they'd been doing, but he changed his mind when he remembered his priorities. And the fact that he wanted to keep his food down today.  
"Ok, well Al, I think you were back around 4."  
"4 in the morning?"

"Yeah."  
"Wait, wait, it's fine! Maddie came in at... No wait, she wasn't with them. I remember thinking that was weird because she's normally always with Laura and Gem but..." Al glared at her. Rose babbling wasn't really needed right now. "Anyway... I don't know, she wasn't back at 3."  
"Oh great!" That meant, most likely, they were together. At a ridiculously early time in the morning. While Al was drunk, and after they'd first kissed.  
"Why, what do you think you did?" Scorpius asked, stopping walking at the bottom of the stairs toward the Gryffindor common room.  
"I have no idea." Al sighed.  
"What _could_ you have done?"  
"Anything..." Al replied, tiredly. He headed up the stairs, and noticed that Scorpius and Rose didn't follow him. They went off in some other direction.

He couldn't really be bothered to think that through. Instead he concentrated on what he could've done with the girl he'd been ignoring for three weeks.

Al was never touching firewhiskey again.

...

James didn't even miss Hogsmeade. He didn't care that he wasn't at Zonkos with Fred, or that he didn't get to be part of the big snowball fight that was inevitable between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

He didn't care. Because he was with Louisa.

He didn't care about anything when he was with Louisa; when he was lying on his bed with her, her hands in his hair and his hands on her hips, nothing else seemed real.

Truth be told, he loved the fact that everyone else was out. Fred wouldn't be able to walk in and tell them to get off each other; they were completely alone.

He kissed Lou's lips again, before moving his head and planting kisses down her neck.

And then she pulled away, which was, admittedly, frustrating to James. She sat up, on the edge of the bed, and bit her nails. After spending so much time with her, James knew she only bit her nails when she was nervous, scared or thinking.

James got up reluctantly and sat next to her.

"Lou, what's up?"

She sighed and shook her head, so James pulled her hand from her knee and held it tight.

"What's wrong?" he asked again.

"Anna and Fred have slept together right?"  
"Er, yeah." That was what she was thinking about right now? "Multiple times, I believe."

Louisa sighed again. "And Roxy and Craig... well I share a dorm with them and they're always-"  
"Er, cousin!" James interrupted. He really didn't want to hear about his relatives' sex lives, now or any other day.

"And Dom's slept with most people-"

"Not most people. But a few." Again, James slightly resented discussing his cousins doing _that_. He didn't fully understand the situation; a few minutes ago they had been making out, and now they were talking about his cousin's relationships.  
"Lou, seriously what's wrong?"  
"Have you ever done it?"  
"Have I ever had sex?"

Louisa seemed to flinch slightly. "Y-yeah."  
James shook his head simply. "I've had the chance, just never taken it."

She pulled her nail out of her mouth, and turned her head to look at him. "Why not?"  
"I don't know. I just always thought it'd be with someone special. Not some stupid drunk Ravenclaw." God, he really was such a girl at times. But Lou seemed to smile slightly, so he wasn't quite as embarrassed.

"Yeah. I always used to think it'd be someone special, sometime special."

James nodded as a reply, watching as she bit her lip and pulled her hair a little.

"James, am I special?"

He laughed incredulously. "Are you kidding? Of course you are. You're beautiful, and clever and... amazing. I've been asking you out for years; of course you're special."

Louisa nodded, then dropped her hair and placed her hand on top of James', which was on top of hers, on his knee.

"James, I want to have sex with you."  
James raised his eyebrows, completely taken aback by the words that had just come out of her mouth. "O...k." He replied hesitantly. "What, now?"

Louisa giggled. "No. Not now. I- I don't want it to be something we do because we're bored on a Sunday afternoon. You are my someone special; we just need the perfect time."

James nodded again. He was turning into one of those stupid nodd-y things in muggle cars.

Louisa's nail went back into her mouth. "You think I'm being a tease or something, don't you? Making you wait and-"

James shook his head. He was really working his neck out today.  
"Louisa, relax." He moved his thumb over her hand in attempt to calm her. "We've only been going out for three weeks. Sure, it feels like a lifetime, but it's only been three weeks and-"  
"Everyone else in our year's done it." She shrugged.

"Yeah, but you're special. We're special. Hell, I'm James Potter. Who cares what everyone else has done? This is about us." He took her spare hand in his other hand.

Louisa smiled, and this time she was the one that nodded. "I'm sorry, I just-"  
"Louisa, I love you. I don't care if we never sleep together." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Ok, that's a lie but... I don't care if it's years away. Because I'm glad of every day I'm with you. And that'll last forever."

Such. A. _Girl. _  
"You love me?" she asked, laughing slightly.  
"Yeah, did I not tell you that before?" He asked, trying to play the cool-guy thing again even though he knew all hope of that had vanished weeks ago with Dom's stories about him.  
"Nope."

James nodded again, and this time he was the one who bit his lip. She wasn't going to say it back; he'd gone and ruined everything and-

"I love you too, you know that, right?"  
James sighed, relieved. "I do now."

He leant forward and kissed her on the cheek.

"Woah." She laughed. "Just because we're not having sex yet doesn't mean you can't kiss me properly!"

James laughed nervously, and then kissed her on her lips.

They ended up lying back on the bed, in the exact same position they had been in before; his hands on her hips, hers in his hair.

James had meant what he'd said.

He'd wait forever for her. And, if he got his way, he'd spend forever with her.


	21. Open Your Hearts

Hey, I'm so sorry about how long the update took. Things have been far too hectic for my liking. I'm sorry guys.

I wanted to say thank you very much to _DesaraSoleil_ because she's been so helpful in reading the chapters and pointing out mistakes. I really appreciate it. :)

Not too sure about this update, but I figured I'd post it anyway because I owe you an update. Please reassure me it's not completely rubbish and keep reviewing!

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter has not suddenly become my possession. I could never have written anything as amazing as JK Rowling did.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty One- Open Your Hearts)**

Christmas came and went too quickly every year. Or at least, Dominique thought it did.

This year though, it was probably her own fault. She'd not bothered to get up until midday, so by the time she went down stairs no one was as excited as they would be at home.

"Morning." Fred nodded as Dom sat next to Louis. She spent every Christmas with him, and she wasn't about to let this year be any different.

"Hey, am I the last up?"

"Duh!"

"So let me guess; you've opened all your presents?" Dom asked. It was rhetorical really; of course they'd already had a big present session. That was ok, she didn't mind doing it on her own... much.

"Nope. We decided to wait for the whole family to be together."  
Dom raised her eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

James just nodded as a reply. "We figured since it was weird enough that we weren't at home, we may as well do this part as a family. With tag-alongs." James smiled, nudging Louisa in the ribs.

If she was more emotional, Dom would've cried. Because it was weird, she never really felt like a big part of the family. She didn't spend much time with them out of school, as she and Louis spent most of their holidays at their Grandmere's in France, so she felt like about as integral as Anna, or Scorpius. It was like she wasn't actually a Weasley, despite the surname. They'd just completely proved her wrong.

She glanced around to see exactly who was there, to find that there wasn't one member of the family missing. Roxy was sat by the fireplace, next to a mini Christmas tree, leaning her head on Craig's shoulder, while Rose and Scorpius were curled up in the armchair. As was expected, James, Fred, Louisa and Anna were sharing the sofa as normal, and Louis, Hugo and Jake (and now Dom) were sat on the floor by them. Lily and Al were sat on the other sofa.  
They were all there.

The weirdest part was that they were the only people in the whole common room. Normally, there were a few lingering Gryffindors, trying to hear what was going on in the Weasley corner, but it seemed that they were the only people to have stayed over the holidays. That was the way it seemed, anyway. It was more likely that the other Gryffindors had been so intimidated by the large family that they'd run off to open their presents in the Great Hall, or just decided to hide away in their dorms.

But it was cool that they were alone. Sometimes Dom really loved having a famous surname.

"Right, great, now my stupid sister's here, can we please open presents?" Louis asked mercenarily.

Dom rolled her eyes at her brother who didn't seem to appreciate that she had sat next to him extra-specially. Roxy nodded, flicking her wand and sending the presents below the Christmas tree flying towards the relevant recipient.

As was to be expected, the boys immediately ripped their presents open, and paper flew around the room.

"You really are patient!" Dom said, sarcastically.

"Er, we've waited like three hours with them just sat there waiting for us!" Fred replied, kicking her.

She shrugged, and began to open her own presents carefully. There were twelve presents in front of her, so she began with the smallest, and worked towards the biggest.

As was expected, she'd received another Weasley jumper from her Grandma, and a large box of sweets and chocolates and cakes to go with them. Her Uncle George had sent her a Daydream charm, which Dom smiled after opening, remembering the time when she'd confessed to him as a little girl that she had nightmares, so he'd promised her an unlimited supply of the charms. Aunt Hermione had sent her (and the rest of the family, as she could tell by the groans) a homework planner, which Ron had apologised for on the accompanying card. Harry and Ginny had sent her a new crystal ball, which Dom appreciated after Fred had smashed her old one, and her parents had sent her gift vouchers to the boutique on Diagon Alley. It was classic for her parents really, as it required no actual knowledge of their daughter. James and Fred had, irritatingly, both bought her another large box of chocolates from Honeydukes with a card saying to "_fatten up_". Roxy had bought her a new mirror, and Louisa had got her some new lipgloss from some muggle brand which she swore by. Anna had bought her a pair of omnioculars to apparently watch the Quidditch matches, and Rose had bought her a new quill, Al had got her a new notebook; it was pretty clear that the four of them had desperately bought the first thing they found that could count as a present. Louis had bought her a small porcelain box, with a scribbled card next to it saying "_Noticed you broke your earring thing. Here, new one. x_" Dom smiled slightly at that. Louis was capable of thinking every now and again. Hugo had bought her yet another box of sweets from Honeydukes. She also had cards from Scorpius, Jake, Professor Longbottom, Craig, Hagrid - from somewhere in the mountains-, Charlie, her French Grandparents and her Aunt Gabrielle. Then the cards got weirder; random Gryffindors, Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs she'd never spoken to, letters from _fans _sent through Witch Weekly or The Daily Prophet. All the kids had those; Fred was reading his adoring letters loudly just to annoy Anna.

Nothing from Victoire. Or Teddy, as it happened. She glanced at Louis' presents to see a large box of sweets from the pair; she had been deliberately forgotten.

It tipped an already bad Christmas into the diabolical standards and Dom found herself in a bad mood, not that she'd been in a particularly good mood before.

Despite the relative uselessness of all the presents, with the exception of maybe Louis, Uncle George, Uncle Harry and Roxy, Dom thanked everyone with a smile on her face.

Everyone else finished opening their presents at about the same time as Dom. Noticeably, Lily and Hugo had received new brooms and Scorpius had new keeper-gloves. Fred now had a massive box of fireworks, and prototypes from his Dad, and Roxy had a new bracelet hanging from her wrist thanks to Craig. James had been surprisingly romantic, buying Louisa a necklace. It made Dom regret not bothering to get a boyfriend before the holidays; she needed some new jewellery. James himself had a large book from his father about Quidditch. Dom had bought Louis a book on getting girls, mainly as a joke, but she noticed that he was flicking through it next to her. And Rose had a beautiful bracelet hanging around her wrist which Dom could swear was new, but she'd had it on before they'd opened presents... weird.

Dom sat and picked at her jumper in her arms as everyone thanked each other. She loved the Weasley jumpers. It made her feel so at home. Realising this, and realising that so far this Christmas was turning into a massive anti-climax, she pulled the jumper over her head.

She looked up at her cousins once she had done so, and they all went quiet for a second as they did the same thing. Now it felt like Christmas… A little bit.

"Ok, does anyone else think it's weird not being at home?"  
"Yeah, I kind of miss Mum shouting at Dad for letting us open everything too quickly!" Rose laughed.

"I just miss the smell of food. And then Mum trying to help Grandma and getting shouted out of the kitchen!" The family smiled, remembering how much havoc their Christmases usually were. That was the problem; this year's was far too calm.

Dom didn't notice Roxy actually doing the magic, but suddenly the wrapping paper and presents disappeared, as if they were never there.

"They're all in your rooms!" Roxy told them before they questioned her. "Sorry, I couldn't handle the mess!"

They laughed at her, so she turned and hid herself in Craig's chest.

Dom hated being alone more and more each second of today.

"Right, before we all go our separate ways for the day..." Fred stood up. "I figured someone should do Grandad's thing of talking about what a good year we've had." They laughed a little. "So, well done Al, you actually passed your OWLs. Lily and Hugo got on the Quidditch team. Rose, you successfully started to go out with someone without us killing him, although there's still time for that. Dom, you were actually in a relationship for a month..." Dom rolled her eyes. "Louis, you're catching up with your sister's record- only with girls, I hope- and Roxy, you're head girl so you're continuing to make us all look bad, and James... well, after years of whining you finally got Louisa. And I... Well, I forgot to give my girlfriend her Christmas present!" Fred said, his hand in his pocket.

Dom looked at James confusedly, and he just shrugged as a reply.

And then something very, very weird happened.

Fred got down on one knee.

Roxy, Lily and Rose squealed. Anna stared with her mouth open. Dom had a weird feeling inside her, a half need to squeal and a half need to slap Fred around the face and tell him to get a grip and remember that he was still in school.

"Hold on, you're not actually proposing are you?" James said, ruining whatever moment there may have been, but also asking what everyone else was thinking.

"Kind of." Fred replied.

"What?" Anna squeaked.

"Well, it's not an engagement ring."  
"Thank god." James said, throwing himself back on the sofa. Dom agreed.

"It's an eternity ring. Louisa told me about them. They're this muggle thing that basically means you'll spend forever together."  
"You gave him this idea?" James asked his girlfriend.

"James, shut up!" Lily whined.

"So, will you?" Fred asked, opening a ring box to show a simple silver band with a green diamond sparkling brightly; the colour of the diamond was the exact colour of Anna's eyes.

"Will I what?" Anna asked back, raising her eyebrows.  
"Will you spend forever with me?"

For a second, Dom thought Anna was going to say no; that was what she would do in this situation. He was asking her to give up her future that was full of possibilities to spend her life with the idiot that he was. She was completely ready to hug Fred and tell him it'd be ok and that-

"Yes. Of course I will you stupid bloody boy!"

Ok, so maybe Dom was hoping she'd say no; jealous and lonely didn't even cover how she felt right now.

As she expected, Fred and Anna began to kiss once she had the ring on her finger, except they didn't really stop.  
"Woah, woah, woah! Get a room!" James commanded, kicking them. Louisa slapped him slightly for this, but thankfully Fred and Anna did pull apart.

"And well done to Fred, because he made all the boyfriends here look bad!" James said, standing up and jokingly finishing Fred's speech. "Merry Christmas!"  
"Merry Christmas." Everyone echoed, before hugging various people. After hugging her brother, Louisa and Rose, Dom sat back in her original place and looked at the carpet for a while.

This Christmas really was the worse. And if Dom could physically apparate in Hogwarts, she would be out of here so fast, and back home. With her Grandma's cooking and the limited displays of affections because the parents were around. In fact, she missed the complete lack of girlfriends and boyfriends and non-family-members at Christmas.

Thinking this, she looked up to see everyone who was in a couple, behaving very couple-y. Rose and Scorpius were (daringly) kissing on the sofa, and Craig and Roxy were doing the same thing by the fireplace. Kissing didn't cover what Fred and Anna were doing, and James and Louisa were just staring into each other's eyes.

The single Weasleys looked at each other awkwardly, and Dom jumped up.

She couldn't _stand_ being here. She couldn't stand being at Hogwarts, when she wanted to be at home. She couldn't stand not being acknowledged by her sister. She couldn't stand having couples shoved down her throat and feeling this alone.

"You ok, sis?" Louis asked from below her.

"Yeah." Dom lied. "I'm just... not feeling too good. I'm going to go and... g-get some fresh air." The fact she stuttered when she lied was something she needed to learn how to control.  
"Oh, ok." Louis replied, looking at her disbelievingly.

She ignored the fact that her brother may be caring about her for the first time, and headed out of the common room. The various couples didn't even notice that she was leaving, despite the fact that the majority of them were her supposed best friends.

She needed to feel wanted. She needed to feel loved.

She knew what she planned to do was pathetic; she knew that it was the reason she had the reputation she did. But she also knew that it would stop her feeling alone, for now.

She ran down to the corridor by the courtyard, and then stopped by the window. She peered outside, and spotted some Ravenclaw guys from her year.  
They'd do, she thought, flicking her hair and heading outside.

"Hey." She said simply to them, choosing her favourite mentally. The skinny blonde one wasn't ugly; he was a pretty good find, in fact.  
"How's your Christmas going?" she asked them, barely listening the answer and just playing with her hair absentmindedly.

She vaguely noticed the chosen blonde one mentioning that his girlfriend had gone home for the holidays. And as much as she knew it was wrong, she told herself that the girlfriend didn't matter. She was just a complication for the guy; no difference to her.

It took about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of flirting was all she needed to be down in the Ravenclaw common room, kissing the temporarily girlfriend-less blonde on his bed.

Whenever she wasn't kissing him in some way, the day went back to it's miserable self. But when his lips touched hers, she felt that love that she wanted, just for a second.

It wasn't worth it, but at least it distracted her. Distracted her from the worst Christmas she'd ever had.

...

This Christmas, Lily decided, was easily the best she'd ever had. Sure, she missed her home. And sure, she didn't really like being surrounded by couples and not being able to go near Jake, but she still loved it. There was just something memorable, something special, something _independent_ about it all.

But the best part of her Christmas hadn't even come yet; there had been a note in her card from Jake. _"Meet me tonight, in the common room, at midnight. Xxx_". That, alone, was enough to make this Christmas amazing.

Luckily, she was sat next to Jake at dinner. Hugo was on one side, Jake on the other and Louis on his other side. Rose, Scorpius and Al were next to Hugo and Louisa, James, Fred, Anna, Roxy and Craig were sat opposite them.

Christmas dinner at Hogwarts wasn't as bad as she expected. In fact, it was possible that these potatoes even beat her Grandmother's.

"Anyone seen Dom?" Louis asked, looking around the hall as he ate.

Lily shook her head in reply, while a few other members of her family mumbled "no".

"Do you think she's ok?" Roxy asked.

"She'll be fine; it's Dom!"

They nodded in agreement with Fred, and returned their attentions to their food. The Weasleys and Potters sure could eat. Especially the Treacle Tart. They all had a weird obsession with the Treacle Tart.

As she ate, Lily reminisced about her Christmas. As different as it had been (for a start, she'd woken up early) it had still been as perfect as every Christmas should be. She'd surprisingly found Rose and Scorpius already in the common room, kissing under the fireplace, when she'd woken up. Feeling guilty for intruding, she'd gone back to bed for a few hours, returning at eleven and gladly seeing most of her family there. They'd waited an hour or so for Dominique, before opening the presents together. Then it had dissolved into a weird couples make-out session, so after Dom had left all of the single Weasleys (or pretend singles, in Lily and Jake's case) had begun to play exploding snap. The noise from the game had made all of the couples realise where they were, and the entire family had spent the afternoon playing the game and talking until Christmas Dinner.

When the food disappeared from the table, McGonagall stood up at the front of the hall.

James rolled his eyes, Lily could see. She didn't understand it; she liked McGonagall. Sure, she'd prefer Dumbledore, but everyone would prefer Dumbledore- he was a legend. McGonagall wasn't half bad, though; James only had a problem with her because she punished him and Fred so often.

"Evening, children, and Merry Christmas to you all. I'm pleased that you all enjoyed the splendid food that the House Elves prepared for us, and I trust that you've all had a pleasant Christmas day. This year, the amount of pupils staying over these holidays has been relatively large," Lily turned and looked around the hall to see that the headmistress was right, the tables were still quite full. "And, taking this into account, the teachers and I have decided to hold a special New Years Ball." The hall buzzed slightly with excited teenagers. "All pupils in fourth year and above are invited to come and celebrate the New Year, and have an opportunity to dress up and dance. I look forward to seeing you all, but for now I will allow you to continue your Christmas celebrations." McGonagall moved back to her seat, and instantly everyone began to talk.

"A ball; that'll be so much fun!" Lily heard from Roxy and Anna, while she heard "Eugh, Dancing." from Fred and James.

"Guess I may as well ask then, you'll go with me right?" James asked Louisa, who nodded excitedly in reply.

"You and me are going right?" Fred asked Anna, who nodded back.

Roxy and Craig didn't even bother to ask, they just smiled at each other.

Lily glanced at Jake, realisation hitting her like a punch in the stomach. They couldn't go together; it would be too difficult, so she'd just have to miss it.

However, she decided that nothing would ruin this Christmas; it was ok, she told herself, she couldn't dance any way.

The excitement of the dance went just as quickly as it had come, and everyone else began to dissolve from the hall.

"Anyone up for carrying on playing snap?" James asked, standing up.

Everyone agreed, and started to leave the hall.

"As long as you're ok with me beating you!" Fred replied as they walked towards the door.

"Who're you kidding? You're being beaten by me!" Anna replied, nudging him in the ribs.

They began to bicker, jokingly, and by the time they reached the common room the game had been changed to boys vs girls chess.

Lily hated chess.

"I'm off to bed." She sighed, heading up the stairs when they entered the common room.

"Oh, come on Lils. If you're getting on the beauty sleep train I will kill you!"

"No, no. It's just been a long day. And I have to be up early." She looked at Jake meaningfully, and then headed up her stairs.

She came back down them at midnight, wearing her pyjamas with her new Weasley jumper to stay warm. She had deliberately plaited her hair, brushed her teeth and pinched her cheeks, just so she didn't look quite as dead as she normally did at midnight.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the common room was completely silent and dark apart from the fire.

She went and sat on James' seat on the sofa, somehow liking the connection to him she felt by sitting there. The remains of a chess game were laid on the table. Whichever team had been black (unfortunately, likely to be the boys) had won.

"Hey." She heard his voice from behind her, and turned around.

"Hi." She replied, smiling at Jake. He was wearing a ripped Gryffindor sweater and tracksuit bottoms and his hair was all messed up, but Lily was positive that he still looked better than her.

"We won." He nodded at the chess game, and sat next to her.

"I thought so." She replied.

Without a second thought, she leant forward and kissed him. It'd been almost three days since they'd last been alone together (which they'd disguised as a trip on behalf of the family to beg the house elves for sweets but had then forgotten to come back with any food) and she'd missed him.

"Hey." She said again when she pulled her lips from his. "So, what am I doing down here?"

Jake smiled, and then pulled something out from behind him.

It was a present, which was pretty messily wrapped up. He passed it to her, and she looked down at it.

"I didn't get you anything." She said sadly.

"It's fine, Lils. Just open it, yeah?"

She nodded. She was rubbish at opening presents. She was ridiculously impatient and just ripped them apart like the boys did.

When she'd massacred the paper properly, she saw a silver bracelet within it.

"Wow." She said, under her breath.

He picked it up, and held it out. "Right, it means something." Lily tilted her head at him. "See, all these links are just... links. See, like they're holding it together-"

"Links tend to do that."

"Shh. But this bit..." He turned it around and showed her a diamond lily-shaped charm . "This bit's you. Because all the links are your family, but you're the special Lily. To me, anyway."  
Lily had never cried because she was happy before, but now tears were filling her eyes.

"That's beautiful."  
"Nah, it's kind of stupid." He laughed.

She just shook her head, as the tears were now falling down her cheeks.

He took her hand and did the bracelet up, then reached up and wiped away the tears from her cheeks.

"Don't cry, Lils."  
"I-I'm these are happy tears."

He nodded, then kissed her on the cheek where her tears were.

"Best Christmas ever." She sighed, mainly to herself.


	22. How Long Does It Take?

Hey guys. Thank you so much for the reviews. I'm considering starting to reply to all your reviews individually through PMs, purely so I can show you how much I appreciate them all, and so that I can reply to your comments properly. You all say such insghtful and inspiring things. :)

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter still isn't mine. Nor is his universe. Although right now I really do wish it was.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty Two- How Long Does It Take?)**

It was weird for Roxy to be back in her dorm. She'd gotten so used to having her own room, or sleeping in Craig's room that she'd practically forgotten that she ever used to sleep anywhere else.

What was weirder was that there were so many people in here, getting ready for the New Year's ball.

In addition to the original occupiers of the room - Anna, Roxy, Louisa and Dominique - Lily, Rose and some other girl (who was apparently one of Rose's roommates and was going to tonight's ball with Al) named Madeline were also crammed into the dorm. As were dresses, various cosmetic products and lots of mirrors. To say her old dorm was full was an understatement. And it didn't make it any better that Dom and Anna just didn't seem to be able to put any of their clothes away.

Roxy being Roxy, she had to make it more organised. Right now she was going crazy.

"RIGHT!" she yelled. "We have... five minutes until we told the boys we'd be down." She had thought it'd be pretty fun to get ready together, but right now she wasn't sure what had given her that idea. It was just stressful. "So, who's not ready?"  
Everyone started to make noise.

"Right!" Roxy repeated. "How many more people's hair have you got left, Dom?"

"Oh, just got to finish Lily's, then it's just mine and we're done."

"And Louisa, how many more girls' makeup did you promise to do?"  
"None. Just me left."  
"Right. So how is no one ready?"  
"We are." Rose replied. "Just need to get dressed. We're taking it in turns in the bathroom. Anna's in there now, then Maddie, then you, Lily, Dom and me. It's all sorted Roxy; it's fine."

God Rose was going to make a good head girl, Roxy thought.

She nodded appreciatively, and then returned to fixing her hair in the mirror. She hated her hair; it never behaved. Thankfully, Dom had some sort of weird magic running through her veins whereby she was able to tame even Roxy's hair. It was all scooped back perfectly, with just a few tendrils falling down the side of her face.

To say it was just a matter of getting dressed, the girls took a while.

This was shown perfectly by Fred's shouts up the stairs.

"Girls, it's like, 10 past! What's taking so long?"

Of course, the girls didn't reply. The best part of being a girl in Hogwarts was that the boys couldn't get up their stairs; they could get up the boys, but not the other way round. It was a great source of torture to use on the boys. When the four girls used to share a dorm, they used to run upstairs with the boys' belongings or run up to talk about them loudly, knowing that they couldn't be punished for it. The best torture method, though, was to just not reply no matter how much they shout.

Of course, Fred was the one who got most irritated by this. Even as a toddler, he hated having places he wasn't allowed to go; he used to climb into the cupboards or run into the stair gates until they broke just for the sake of breaking the rules.

"Girls, it's quarter past; you are now officially 20 minutes late!"  
Roxy just laughed. If anything, she loved to annoy her brother.

"Right, if you don't come down here right now we're going without you!"

Roxy was still laughing, but she looked up at the other girls to see them looking slightly worried.

Despite the fact she wasn't dressed and was just wrapped up in a towel, she smiled at the girls in a way that showed she'd fix it, and opened the door. She went down the stairs, holding onto the towel tightly, and stood near enough to the bottom of the stairs that she could see the boys, and they could see her, but they couldn't chase after her if she decided to wind them up further.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat and all the boys turned around on the sofa and one or two stood up, obviously thinking the girls were ready.

"Oh dear lord, you're not even dressed yet!" Fred whined.

"No, this is what I'm wearing tonight!" Roxy replied sarcastically. She looked over the top of her stupid brother's head to see Craig smiling at her.

It was weird seeing them all in suits. They all looked so smart and grown up; even Al. Craig looked so hot. In an un-weird way, she could even admit that her cousins didn't exactly look ugly…She could see why they all had dates.

Fred crossed his arms. "Right, what's taking you all so long?"  
"We're almost ready. Five minutes."  
They all groaned. Except Craig, he just carried on smiling; he was so perfect.

"Trust me, it's worth it." she smiled, turning back up the stairs.

Their groans seemed to subside; guys were so easily distractible.

She entered her dorm again to come face to face with a group of fully dressed girls.

And they all looked beautiful.

Anna, who was sat looking quite bored in the same way Fred had been, was wearing a long red sleeveless dress that fell past her black heels and to the ground. She'd messed up her short brown bob and still had the ring Fred gave her on her finger. Baring in mind Fred's mood (and his impatience) and how pretty Anna looked, Roxy wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even go to the ball and instead went straight to Fred's room, which was a pretty sickening thought for her.

Louisa, of course, looked amazing; but then again, she always did do that effortlessly. She was wearing a light blue corset-dress that matched her eyes perfectly, and ridiculously high heels. Dom's heels were the only shoes that were higher, which wasn't even fair as Dom was already the tallest. She, obviously, looked breath-taking; whichever guy was taking her out tonight was ridiculously lucky. She was wearing a low-cut black dress with silver gemstones around the neckline and had her blonde hair curled beautifully.

Rose also looked amazing, as did her friend Maddie. Scorpius and Al were another two guys to put on Roxy's happy-guy list for tonight. Maddie was wearing a simple black dress with her blonde hair expertly scooped back by Dom, and Rose was the only girl wearing a shorter dress which was emerald green and strapless. She had, easily, the best shoes out of the lot of them on her feet. They were pale pink (bordering on cream) with some beautiful bow details on the front. And they competed with Dom and Louisa for highest heels.

Of course, these girls were expected to be beautiful; they were every other day of the year, how would the night of a ball be any different?

Lily was the big surprise.

Her ginger hair had been curled by Dom into perfect waves and she had some of Dom's beautiful gemstone clips in her hair. Louisa had, of course, perfected Lily's make up, so she was to thank for that. But Lily had - like everyone else - chosen her own dress from Witch Weekly's catalogue on boxing day. And she'd chosen well. Pale pink, with lace details around the top, it fell perfectly to the floor and made her look completely angelic. Whoever was going out with Lily was lucky, even if it was just one of Hugo's friends.

"Right, we're waiting for you!" Rose ordered, holding out Roxy's dress. Roxy smiled, took the dress, and changed in the bathroom.

While she loved Lily's dress, she was pretty pleased with her own. Eventually, she'd found a dark purple dress that fitted her perfectly, and her black shoes were ridiculously cute too. She felt like such a girl searching through clothes; it really wasn't normal for her.

She returned into the dorm, and was told by the girls how pretty she looked. She smiled; nobody hated compliments.

Then they headed down the stairs.

When they neared the bottom, Roxy saw that all the guys had returned to the sofa, not looking in their direction. Silently taking charge again, held her hand out in front of the girls to make them stop and cleared her throat again.

"I swear, if you're not dressed now..." Fred's voice trailed away once he'd turned around. "Wow."

The rest of the boys stood up, walking towards them all.

Then Roxy smiled, and crossed her arms. "Worth it?"  
"Well, I'm pretty sure you couldn't've got ready slower but-"  
"Ah!" Roxy tutted and turned around, signalling for the girls to do the same. They did so, laughing on the confused look on the boys' faces as they did so.

"Woah, woah, woah, you're not going back upstairs!" Fred stuttered, stepping towards them uselessly.  
Roxy turned. "Yes we are, and we're putting on our pyjamas so you'd better take a mental picture."  
The guys groaned. "What do I have to do?" Fred asked, raising his eyebrows, having had too many of these moments with Roxanne before to not know that this was all one big dare.

"Say it's worth it, or Anna isn't coming down at all."  
"It was worth being half an hour late."  
"I sense sarcasm. Anna, go change!" Roxy jokingly commanded.

"Fine, it was _so_ so worth it! Is that alright?"  
Roxy nodded, and then went down the stairs into the common room, past the invisible gender line which stopped the guys getting upstairs.

"I hate you." Fred hissed to her, smiling.

"Love you too bro!" She replied sarcastically, walking over to Craig and hugging him.

"I don't tell you how beautiful you are often enough." He smiled down at her.

"You look pretty good yourself." She replied, turning to see that all the girls had walked towards their respective dates and were now getting similar comments.

Apart from Fred. Fred wasn't complimenting Anna; he was practically eating her.

"Chop chop Freddie, we'll be late!" Roxy commanded.

...

"You look really nice." Al told Maddie when she reached him.

"Nice? Al, find some more adjectives!" Rose hit his back, Al turned to glare at her and she stuck out her tongue.

"You look beautiful." He said, turning back to Maddie.

"Much better." He could hear Rose from behind him.

"Thanks." Maddie replied quietly.

"Chop chop Freddie, we'll be late!" Al groaned; at times Roxy was more annoying than Rose… Only occasionally though.

The lot of them climbed out of the common room, causing a lot of laughter as the girls attempted to do so with their heels on.

They started to walk down to the great hall, Al and Maddie walking together awkwardly.

"Have you seen your sister yet?" Rose asked, running up behind him.

She was very awake today.

"No." Al turned to look for little sister, to see a girl he didn't recognise in her place. "Wow, Lils you look..."  
"Don't say nice." Rose told him.

"Different."

"Much better!" Rose said sarcastically.  
"Who're you going with anyway?" James asked her, walking backwards and looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"Just one of Hugo's friends. Andy or something. I'm meeting him down there."  
Hugo and Louis had been sent down early with their dates to attempt to get a table big enough for all of them; it was a pretty big job.

When they reached the great hall, after Al and Maddie walked in silence while all the couples laughed, the room when silent. Even the bloody music stopped, Al realised; clearly the band hadn't expected to see the Potters or Weasleys tonight.

Of course, the family were used to this, and just walked towards the table Louis, Hugo, Jake and their dates were sat at.

By some miracle, the boys had managed to get a table big enough for 20 people; Al wondered if it had been put together especially for their family.

They all sat around it, Al remembering to pull out Maddie's chair for her as all the other guys did.

"This is so boring." Hugo yawned when the band stopped staring and returned to playing.

"Enter Fred." Fred said, pulling a bottle out of his jacket and walking away towards the drinks table.

"Nah, I think it's nice to get dressed up!" Roxy smiled, deliberately pretending she hadn't noticed what her brother was doing.

"Oh yeah, we love looking like bloody penguins!" James joked.

"Oh shut up, you look hot and you know it." Louisa told him. James raised his eyebrows at her, and she smiled back at him. It was sickening.

Someone from behind Al cleared his throat.

"Professor Slughorn, hi!" Louisa said, looking away from James awkwardly.

Al turned to see the old man smiling over the table.

"Oh please, I'm not a professor anymore!" he replied, smiling in that weird way that he did. "Well, isn't this wonderful. This is really the place to be tonight; all the _interesting_ people sit at the same table! The head boy and girls, and the Weasleys and Potters and Malfoy! Anyone here is someone to know!"

Al rolled his eyes at James across the table.

Slughorn wanted to –as their father put it- "_collect_" the Potters and the Weasleys. Thankfully, he'd been gone before Al could be taught by him, and James, Roxy, Dom and Fred had made themselves _uncollectable_.

"Oh, it is such a shame that I never really got your parents up on my shelf!"

"Yes, I imagine it is." Rose replied, smiling in that fake way she did with teachers.

"Of course, it was difficult for them to attend my dinner parties when they were off saving the world! What is your father doing now anyway, James? Still head of the auror department?"  
"Oh no, Dad's retired now. He and Mum just sit doing nothing in the house all day!"  
"Well, I'm sure that's not true. What about your mother, Rose?"  
"She's still working. Dad too-"  
"Splendid. Well, I must be off. I'm planning on holding a get together over the Easter holidays, which you are all invited to. Make sure to invite your parents as well!"

The family kept their smiles pasted on until he was far away.

"So glad he doesn't teach here anymore!" Roxy sighed.  
"Don't say that; he gave me an O in potions!" Dom told him. "And I didn't even have to work."  
James raised his eyebrows. "I think you just proved Roxy's point."

Dom nodded vaguely, and Al turned his head and tried to work out how he recognised her date.

Then he realised he was the Hufflepuff seeker who had cried when he lost against Al, and had to hold back laughter.

"Right, I guess we're here to dance. Shall we?" Craig stood up and took Roxy's hand. And James and Louisa silently did the same thing. Rose and Scorpius went and joined them, and Anna left to find Fred. Louis and his date seemed to have disappeared when Slughorn arrived.

"Want to dance?" Al asked Maddie.

She nodded, and Al took her hand and walked with her to where there were a few dancing couples.

Once they'd eventually got themselves into the correct dancing position, they swayed to the music.

God, Al hated dancing.

"This is like that night at the party." He pointed out vaguely.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess it is."

Except this time it was ridiculously awkward, he thought to himself, hating the fact he had reminded her of that night.

"Why did you agree to be my date?" Al asked her, still swaying ungracefully to the music. He knew why he'd asked her, of course. She was pretty, and Al had thought it through and realised that he actually did have feelings for her. That, and he wanted her to tell him what they did on the night of the party.

"I don't know, really. We had a good time that night at the party, and I figured we might do again. And there was no one else to go with!" Al hoped the last part was a joke.

"Listen, Maddie. I'm sorry for whatever I can't remember."  
She laughed slightly. "You don't need to be sorry. You just need to remember."  
He wished it was that easy. He'd spent the majority of lessons trying to think about it, but there was nothing. It was like trying to remember the beginning of the world; you can't because as far as you know you weren't there.

"You really do look beautiful, do you know that?"  
She smiled. "I do now."  
Al wished he could remember what ever happened. That would make everything easier.

Not that this was particularly difficult. As much as he hated dancing, right now this seemed like the easiest thing in the world.


	23. Never Done It

Hey guys! So, I quite like this chapter; there's some Lily and Jake for all you who like them! :) I've totally planned this whole fic now. Proud. Of. Myself. Now I just have to write it.

Thank you for your reviews, so so much, and thank you to anyone who has this story on alert or favourited. :)

Finally, fic:

_**Disclaimer: **__I have not gained possession of Harry Potter in the last three days. Although my obsession has grown- it's a daily thing.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty Three- Never Done It)**

Everyone else seemed to be having a brilliant time as they counted down to 2023.

Lily wasn't; she was hating tonight. Sure, she liked the compliments about her dress, but it wasn't enough. She wasn't with who she wanted. She was with one of Hugo's stupid friends who's girlfriend wasn't in Hogwarts for the holidays, and Jake was with some ridiculously pretty blonde girl named "_Suzanna_." Lily hated her, despite the fact she hadn't said a word to her.

When the countdown ended everyone smiled, and laughed, and kissed their dates. They all looked ridiculously happy and overexcited.

Lily just stared around in the crowd and tried to see if Jake was kissing that walking doll.

"Happy new year, sis!" James ran up to her and hugged her, spinning her around; it was like they were little kids again for a moment.

"Happy new year. James." She sighed, unenthusiastically.

"Hey. Hey, are you alright?" He put his hands on her shoulders and ducked down so he was her height.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, just not good in crowds and things, you know me. I'm going to go outside and get some air actually."  
"Ok," he replied worriedly. "Well meet us in the common room yeah? We're going to hang out up there for a while once McGonagall kicks us out."  
Lily nodded, secretly glad to have been invited to the common room and not just expected to turn up, and then headed towards the door and out of the grounds to the courtyard.

It was a bad move, Lily decided, because it was freezing cold in the snow, and pitch black.

She walked to the middle of it, and stared up as the snow fell onto her face. She flicked her wand and whispered "Lumos" at the same time so she could see around a little.

She felt a little like an angel for a few minutes; it was like she was glowing in her own little world, with the snow spinning around her like confetti. It was like that night at the party with the confetti over the couples, yet somehow the snow was even more beautiful.

"Lily!"

She span around to see Jake running towards her.

She didn't reply, and he just ran up to her and hugged her. Any cold that she felt in the minutes before was replaced by a warmth that bubbled up through her stomach and to her fingertips, as if her heart was glowing to match her wand.

Jake then awkwardly let go and she stepped backwards as they both realised they could easily be seen from inside.

He cleared his throat and put his hands in his pockets.

"I've been meaning to tell you that you look beautiful tonight." He whispered, still keeping his distance from her.

Lily nodded, her heart lighting up a little bit more. "Thanks. So does Suzanna or whoever-"  
"Nah. She's orange."

Lily laughed a little.

"Seriously though, I don't want to be here with her. Louis made me and..." His voice trailed away, and Lily realised that tears were reaching her eyes. She didn't want to cry or anything; she didn't really have a reason to just from what he'd said. It was just the whole situation that made her want to dissolve into sobs; that she felt so unbelievably happy around him, but felt like falling apart when she couldn't go near him, or that when they were together they had to break apart as if they were breaking some sort of rule; she didn't like _lying_.

She sniffed, trying to rid herself of the tears before they reached her eyes, but he noticed too early.

Instantly, he grabbed her hand and pulled her around the corner, knocking her wand so the charm stopped and no one could see them.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her quietly, wiping the single tear away that fell down her cheek. She couldn't see him, but she could hear him and feel him; she wondered if she ever cared if she saw anything again.

"Nothing really, I just... I wish I could've danced with you tonight."

"I do too, Lils. Look, I'll talk to Louis and-"  
"You can't." She sighed. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness and she could see him looking at her worriedly, his eyes wide as if he too was about to cry. "They'll kill you. Literally, we're talking green light and everything-"  
"They didn't kill Scorpius for going out with Rose."  
"Yeah but he was her age, and they were friends for ages so everyone was kind of prepared and-"  
"Lils, if we really want to be together, we'll have to tell them sometime."

"I know that. I know we'll have to eventually but... Eventually doesn't have to be soon, does it."  
"It's up to you." He shrugged. "I'll sneak around for as long as you want me to."  
Lily nodded, then sighed, hating the words _sneaking around_. "Thanks. Shouldn't we go now? Suzanna'll wonder where you are-"  
"Lily, you know I don't care about her don't you? Not like I care about you."  
Lily smiled. "I know. I'm just a bit-"  
"Jealous?"

Lily attempted to protest, but then realised she couldn't; she was jealous.

"Well I'm jealous of Andrew. He got to dance with the most beautiful girl in the room tonight."  
"Yeah. He's a rubbish dancer though."  
Jake laughed, and then Lily bit her lip, wishing he would dare to kiss her but knowing he wouldn't. "We really should go up to the common room now. James'll wonder where I've gone..."  
"Ok. You go first and I'll leave in a second."  
Lily nodded, then kissed him on the cheek and headed back inside.

"Lils!" he yelled after her and she turned around. "I'll miss you."

She smiled and headed back to the common room.

When she entered, she found her family sat in a circle by the fireplace.

"Lily!" Fred yelled, while James turned around.

"Hey, are you feeling better?" he asked her.

"Yeah." She replied truthfully; she was feeling better now she'd seen Jake.

She considered going to bed; bed seemed to be calling her right now, but then she changed her mind and walked towards them. "What are you doing?"  
"Playing some muggle name. _'I don't'_ or something..."  
"I never." Louisa corrected him.

"How do you play?" Lily asked, sitting next to Louis in the circle. She realised that Hugo, Andrew, Georgia and Jake and Louis' dates weren't around. She thought that was good, because she wouldn't be able to resist smiling like a crazy person around Suzanna; Jake's words would echo around her head.

"Right, you say something you haven't done, and then if other people have done it they drink. And you have to be completely honest, no matter what." Louisa bit her lip, before smiling mischievously and whispering spells under her breath as she waved her wand. "In fact, if you're not honest, your drink'll light up."  
James smiled a little dreamily. "You're amazing, do you know that?"

"It was just a spell James, anyone can-"  
"Let's play!" Fred interrupted excitedly.

Lily nodded, and then James slid her a bottle of firewhiskey. She was slightly surprised that he was allowing her to drink, but she didn't mention it; he probably wasn't thinking, judging by the way he was looking at Louisa.

"Right, ok. So I've never-"  
Then Jake came through the portrait hole.

"Oh god, we're never going to play." Dom whined.  
"Hey. Where did you go?" Louis asked him as Jake sat next to him.

"Oh, Slughorn pulled me over and started talking about Dad or something..." Lily smiled at him appreciatively, then looked back at Louisa as she started to speak.

"Right, well basically we're playing I never. Be honest, and drink if you've done it, if you're not honest then we'll know about it. I'll start; I've never... been so drunk that I've passed out."

"Why am I going out with someone so boring?" James joked, sipping out of the bottle like Anna, Fred, Dom, Louis and –suprisingly- Roxy were doing. "Kidding!" he told Louisa after she scowled at him. "Love you really!"  
"Hmmm. Ok, so it's your go now James."  
"Right ok, so I've never gone to see a teacher voluntarily."

Rose, Scorpius, Al, Roxy, Louisa, Craig, Anna, Dom, Lily and Jake all drank.

"You're all geeks." Fred told them.

"Shut it!" Anna joked. "I've never tried to drive a muggle car."

The family, and Anna, burst out laughing as Fred drank.

"Wait, what's so funny?" Louisa asked, as she too drunk. "Seriously, cars aren't even hard, I have a provisional licence now and I've never understood why you wizards-"

"Nah, that's not why we're laughing. Fred once stole Grandad's car and got stuck on Xenophilius Lovegood's roof. And he couldn't get down..."

"Until he tried to jump." Anna laughed.

"Right, to be fair, the roof wasn't that high-" Fred began.  
"But it wasn't exactly low was it? How long were you in St Mungo's for again...?"  
"Ok, ok, very funny!" Fred whined. "I've never kissed a Weasley or a Potter. And I mean proper snogging not just kissing Grandma goodnight!"  
As was expected, Anna, Scorpius, Louisa, whoever Dom's date was and Maddie drank. But Lily hardly acknowledged this, instead she just looked at Jake worriedly.

He didn't drink, instead he just steadily stared over at Lily.

Until the bottle he was holding lit up with a bright blue, and James burst out laughing. "Haha, Louis did you and Jake have a confused moment?"  
"Wait, what?" Louis said, turning to Jake, who completely avoided eye contact with everyone. Lily did the same, just looking at the floor and listening to James' teasing helplessly.

"Your boyfriend just lied to us; he's kissed a Weasley. So what, did you two get a bit too drunk one night and-?"  
"No!" Louis protested. "No!" he turned to Jake. "No! Jake, who've you-"  
Lily bit her lip. She couldn't think of anything else to do to get the heat off Jake except-

"I've never had sex." She stated loudly, watching as the family turned to look at her with expressions on their faces like they'd been petrified. Lily just sat still, watching as Jake unsubtly jumped up from the circle and left up the stairs.

...

"I've never had sex."  
The family fell into a weird silence for a second, before Fred dared to speak.

"And we're all very glad of that, Lils." He slurped on his drink, followed by Anna and Dom. Roxy and Craig drank, of course, as did Louis, surprisingly. So did Maddie. And then she ran off.

But Rose didn't really have time to mentally develop on the fact that her quiet roommate of 6 years wasn't a virgin, because she glanced up to see James staring at her.

She mentally wondered why he or Louisa hadn't drunk; they'd been going out for so long and were so perfect together it was pretty much assumed that... Not to mention that James was who he was; Rose thought he'd done it years ago.

"What?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows while he just stared back at her.

They held eye contact for a second, before he gave up and sighed dramatically.

"Oh, thank merlin! I was so sure you and Malfoy, I mean Scorpius, were going to drink then."

Rose's mouth dropped open a little, and then she turned her head to Scorp before regretting it and staring at the pattern on the carpet.  
"I'm surprised they didn't." Dom said simply. Everyone, Rose included, turned their heads towards her with confused looks on their faces. "I don't know, they've just gone out for ages and they're 16 and-"  
"And one of them's your cousin, so let's stop discussing this!" James replied. "Besides, they're underage and-"  
"Nah, nah, Dom I know what you mean!" Fred continued, earning smiles from Dom but extreme glares from James. "I just, I mean... they're sixth years. That's like the average time. Me and Anna were in sixth year, Roxy and Craig were too..." (Rose didn't dare to ask how he knew that) "And Dom, you were what fourth year?"  
"Summer before sixth." She glared.

"And Louis, you're only in fifth year so that's... disturbing." Louis just smiled as a reply. "So it's kind of expected of them, isn't it? I always thought they'd done it. They just seem to be in that place-"

"But they're underage, and they haven't; don't you go encouraging them!" James said, in a threatening way that Rose hoped was a joke.

She carried on staring at a loose string in the carpet, wishing that staring hard would burn a hole in the floor that could swallow her up.

"Yeah, but I mean... I still thought they had. I mean, you can't honestly be stupid enough to think they've done _nothing_..."  
Oh. Dear. God.  
"Ok. As much as I love to hear your ideas of my best friend and my cousin having sex, I'm going to bed." Al stood up, and was out of the room quicker than that golden snitch he seemed to waste all of his time chasing.

"Yes, I do agree that this conversation has gone into the leagues of the disturbing. Let's go." Roxy said, grabbing Craig's arm and heading out.

"See, them doing it is disturbing. Because they shouldn't be doing it!" James told Fred, thinking he'd won some kind of debate.

"Just because you're still a virgin in seventh year doesn't mean everyone else should be." Dom said, raising her eyebrows.

"Oi!" Louisa squealed, reaching out to hit her friend.

"Ok, before this gets violent me and Anna'll-"  
"You are not going in our dorm! Not again!" James told him, standing up to his height after Fred had pulled Anna up.

"Fine, fine. Room of Requirement it is."

Giggling, Anna and Fred left.

"Now that was more disturbing than anything we've talked about tonight." Louis groaned, as he climbed the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm off to throw up." Dom said, heading upstairs. Her date seemed to have apparently disappeared. "Come on Lils, I'll take your hair down for you."

Lily nodded, not saying a word, then followed the blonde haired girl up the stairs.

So now it was just Louisa, James, Rose and Scorpius; not awkward at all.

"Wow, apparently if you bring up sex everyone really clears out of the room!" James joked, shuffling a little. Rose dared to look up from the carpet, and the second she met James' eyes he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right, I'll walk you back." He said, taking Louisa's arm and leading her out of the common room.

Weirdly, the awkwardness didn't go away when they left.

"So..." Scorp said, messing up his hair.

"Yeah..." Rose replied, daring to stand up.

He stood up to her level, and Rose rocked on her feet.

"Apparently everyone expects us to have had sex?" Rose laughed nervously, then bit her lip. She and Scorpius were never usually like this with each other; but then she considered that they'd never really talked about _this_ before.

"Yeah, apparently." Scorp replied, blinking back.

Rose nodded, and looked back down at her shoes. Normally a beautiful pair of shoes like those would provide her with a distraction, but nothing could get the weird thoughts out of her head. "It's understandable, I guess... I mean it's like they said, most people do it in sixth year. Even Maddie." She laughed uncertainly again. "I just, I guess we've never really thought about it before. I mean, do you... want to?"

He stared down at her. "Rose, I'm a guy, of course I want to." Rose nodded, unsure how else to respond to such honesty. "But I was just waiting until you were ready or-"  
"I never said I wasn't ready."

She didn't mean it quite as flirtatiously as it seemed, but when it replayed in her head it sounded like something from one of those disgusting muggle movies...

"So you are, er, ready?"  
"Yeah." She'd never really thought about it before, but nothing about it seemed wrong. It was Scorp, and it was natural and... "I am, I guess."

They both rocked on their feet simultaneously, like mirrors of each other.

"It's getting late." Rose said, quietly. "I'll see you in the morning, yeah?" she kissed his cheek and then left.

What the hell would her mother say if she saw her? Her Mum hadn't done anything like this in sixth year; her mother had been busy saving the world.

But if there was one thing Hermione Granger had taught her children, it was to follow their hearts.

And deep down in Rose's heart, everything that had just happened felt unbelievably right.


	24. What's Next?

Woo! More than 200 reviews. I never even imagined that I'd ever get that many reviews. Amazing, thankyou guys. :)  
I'm sorry this update is so late; I've been crazy busy and had a few things going on and.. yeah.

I hope you like this part, and it lives up to expectations.

Keep reviewing!

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter isn't mine. Simple as.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty Four- What's Next?)  
**_  
_Scorpius woke up when he heard something banging against a wall and his eyes opened quickly. He sat up to see Al holding a shoe in his hand and then watched as he then promptly threw it at the empty wall and picked up something else from his trunk behind him.  
"Woah. What are you doing?" Scorpius asked, slightly croakily. He was already suffering from last night- he was no good with even a little alcohol.

Al didn't reply and Scorpius could only watch as his best friend threw his old crystal ball from last year and it smashed into pieces when it hit the wall.

Not knowing what else to do, Scorpius jumped up, grabbed his wand and fixed the crystal ball.

"Right, I'm keeping you away from anything valuable!" He joked, helplessly, as Al just glared straight back.

Neither of them were even dressed yet, and there was already havoc in their room. Al was just stood in his tracksuit bottoms, like Scorpius was, when they normally at least put shirts on before speaking to each other.

"What's wrong with you?" Scorpius asked slowly, looking at his best friend worriedly.

"Last night." Al replied, breathing heavily between the two words.

"What about last night?" he asked, slightly worriedly; he wasn't even sure if a huge part of last night had actually happened or if it just some dream that he wished he hadn't woken up from.  
"You know what!"

Scorpius blinked back, and begged that if he and Rose actually had said what he thought they had, they hadn't been heard. He began to realise that having such a conversation in such a public area may have been stupid.

"She's had sex!" He yelled, throwing his jumper at the wall.

"What? No she..." Scorpius' voice trailed away as he remembered the other (admittedly less important) parts of last night. Maddie. "Yeah, she did say that didn't she?"  
"She didn't even say it! She just drank and left! Who does that?"

Scorpius didn't reply; what was he meant to say? That he was sorry that the girl his best friend kind-of-likes-but-isn't-really-sure hadn't told him that she'd already slept with someone?

"Who just drops a bombshell like that and then leaves? Walks away before anyone can say anything?" Al continued to rant; clearly Scorpius wasn't expected to say anything.  
"I don't kn-"  
"I mean, who did she sleep with? And when? And why didn't she tell me?"

Al didn't throw anything with this question, as he had with every other one, and instead fell backwards onto the bed. Scorpius assumed from his silence that he was meant to reply this time.

"Well... why would she? Tell you, I mean; it's hardly something she could just drop in conversation on your first date-"  
"But it wasn't our first date! Not really. There was the party and..." Al stopped talking mid-sentence, so Scorpius assumed he was supposed to talk again.

"Yeah, but still she-"  
"The party." He shot up, his eyes darting quickly. "I... She asked if that was all I could remember as if... You don't think we...?"

This time Scorpius _couldn't _reply.

"No. We didn't. We didn't. Did we?" He pulled a book out of his trunk, and held it up as if about to throw again. Then he turned and looked at Scorpius, who suddenly felt like the target. "Tell me we didn't!"  
"Well, you'd remember wouldn't you?" He replied desperately.  
Al lowered the book, and turned away from Scorpius. "Yeah. Yeah, I would've remembered. Which means she's slept with someone else and not told me!" he threw the book towards the door as he said these last words, angry again, but as the book flew through the air the door opened.

"Woah!" Rose voice rang from the doorway. She somehow managed to stop the book inches from her face, her wand in her hand.

Scorpius wondered if time had stopped at the same time as the book while he blinked at her. She looked beautiful, even this early in the morning. Even with her hair scooped back and her pyjama bottoms hanging loosely from her hips, with dark circles under her eyes, she still looked beautiful.

"How did you get in here?" Al yelled, jolting Scorpius back to reality too quickly.

"I, er, the door was open?" Rose suggested, looking at her cousin like he was a complete idiot before laughing and turning towards Scorpius. And then she met his eyes. It was weirdly awkward, and Scorpius wasn't completely sure what to say.

Al grumbled, reaching into his trunk again.

Scorpius, sure he was going to throw something again, said "Oi, calm down!"  
"Calm down? I'm putting a shirt on. You might want to do the same thing." Al smirked, while Scorpius, for some reason, looked down at his bare chest. He then blushed far too much than someone so pale should be able to, and dived backwards for his clothes.

While he pulled a jumper over his head Rose stood completely still.

"She's not said anything to you has she?" Al asked her, Scorpius practically feeling her eyes break away from him.

"Who?" She asked, distractedly.

"Grandma. Who do you think?"  
"Maddie? Oh, no. She's been quiet all morning. She's gone to breakfast now though, so-"  
"Perfect." Al said, storming out of the door. Scorpius wondered whether he should allow his best friend to go to see Maddie in this mood, but then he looked at Rose and decided against trying to stop him leaving.

He nodded awkwardly. "Hi." He said to her simply once Al had slammed the door behind himself.

"Hey." She replied, sitting on Al's bed. Scorpius couldn't help but think that she was sat on the wrong person's bed.

"H-How are you?"  
"Tired." She shrugged. "You?"

"Ok." He replied simply, sitting down on his own bed, opposite her.

Neither of them said anything. Scorpius looked up at the holes in his curtain and Rose hummed some song from the ball absentmindedly.

It was weird for them to have such awkward silences. They never usually did; if they ever went silent it would be the kind of silence that they understood, where they were just enjoying being with each other.

"Listen," they said at the same time.

"You go." Rose offered.

Scorpius shook his head. "No you."

"No, seriously you can-"

"I have a feeling we were going to talk about the same thing any way." Scorpius smiled slightly. "Last night?"  
Rose nodded. "Last night."  
They drifted into silence again, even though Scorpius had a lot to say.

It wasn't the sort of thing a guy could initiate a conversation on though, without seeming like a complete jerk. It wasn't really fair, but he felt like he had to wait for Rose to begin to talk.

"Did you mean what you said?" she asked him.

Scorpius nodded. "'Course I did."  
"Ok. Well I did too."

Scorpius felt himself smiling widely, and Rose stood up and sat next to him.

"So..."

"So." She replied.

He smiled, then leant forward and kissed her softly, allowing his hands to rest around her waist.

"What are we going to do then?" Rose asked him, leaning her head back.

Scorpius tilted his head. "Eh?"  
"I mean, who're we going to ask?"  
"Ask?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I was just thinking we might need some advice. I mean, we can't be stupid about this. I know about the potion and the charm and things but I don't really get how they work so we should probably ask someone who does know everything."  
Scorpius nodded. His head was swimming. One minute he was being told his girlfriend wanted to sleep with him, the next she was babbling like she'd learnt everything for an exam.

"Well... Dominique?" He suggested, weakly.  
"No. Not family."  
"So there's only about half of the school left." He replied sarcastically.

"Seriously, we can't talk to them about this; you saw last night. Plus, they have a hard enough time with us and it'd just make it worse."

"Ok. Who else is there?"  
"Your friends?" She asked.  
"Right, we've hit a brick wall in that my best friend is your cousin." He told her, raising his eyebrows.

She bit her lip. "Well, I thought about Maddie but she clearly doesn't want to talk about that right now. And if I spoke to Gemma or Alice it'd be round the school in seconds."

Scorpius nodded, while Rose just stared away like she did when she was thinking.

"What about Craig? He pretty cool, and he's head boy so he's trust worthy and-"  
"And he'd tell Roxy before you'd even finished speaking."  
"True." Rose returned to her thinking face, which meant Scorpius himself couldn't think because she looked so cute. "Got it. Louisa."  
"Wouldn't she tell James?"  
"I don't think so. She and I were friends before they went out, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't tell secrets."

"Yeah, but she didn't drink yesterday so-"  
"I'm pretty sure she knows her stuff."

They fell into silence again, then Rose laughed nervously. "You guys have Quidditch practice today, right?"  
Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, this afternoon."  
"I'll talk to her then."  
"Ok." He replied automatically, too lost in Rose's eyes to really think about- "Wait, today?" He asked, realisation smacking him in the face.

She smirked at him. "No point waiting is there?"

He'd never wanted to be one of those guys who looked at their girlfriends and thought that they were hot. Not that Rose wasn't hot, but he didn't want to be one of those people who only thought about one thing. At this moment, though, all he had running through his brain was just how incredibly amazing _being with her_ would be, after so many years of embarrassing dreams or daydreams that meant he couldn't look her in the eye for weeks afterwards.

He could hardly form words, so instead he nodded.

They sat in silence again, but it was different this time; for Scorpius any way.

He was thinking of all the possibilities they now had (which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do with her sat next to him) and he couldn't say a word.

All he could do was sit and look at her, and think about how lucky he was that she was actually, completely his; they belonged to each other.

...

2023 was going to be James' year. Sure, the other years hadn't been awful, and he would have to work hard to beat 2022, but he just had a feeling this year would be especially amazing.

And it was all going to start right here, on the Quidditch pitch, he'd decided. This year, he was going to be the first Potter to lift up the Quidditch trophy since his Grandfather. They'd beaten Slytherin; the worst was over.

Holding Quidditch practice on New Years' Day was, in theory, a stupid idea. Half a team of tired, hungover teenagers wouldn't exactly be amazing in the air. However, he'd got lucky; every member of the team had stayed for the holidays and last night, no one had got excessively drunk that he knew of, and he'd kindly let them all have a lie in.

James' theories told him that his team should, in fact, be on top form.

He and Fred (who attended every Quidditch practice as _"James' ground observer_") stepped inside the changing rooms, James rested his broom on the wall and they sat and waited for the rest of the team.

They went silent, and Fred shuffled his feet. "So, last night was awkward."  
"Just a little." James nodded, looking at the floor.  
"I wasn't encouraging them or anything, you know? I mean, I was just saying that it's surprising that they haven't already-"  
"You don't need to say it again." James replied simply. "But I think we're ok. They're not stupid; they won't do anything."  
"You're probably right." James turned and looked at his cousin sceptically. "I mean definitely." He joked. "So what's going on with you and Louisa; I noticed you both left your drinks on the floor at that question?" James turned and saw Fred smirking at him. "Can't believe you've still not done it."  
"Oh, shut up!" James replied, hitting him jokily. Well, partially jokily.

It hadn't always been like this; James was the first to kiss a girl, the first to have a girlfriend, the first to drink alcohol, the first to apparate... He'd beaten Fred on almost everything else. But just because Fred was first on this one he acted like he knew everything. It was irritating.

"We're just waiting until it's right."

"Oh yeah, I remember doing that… last year!" Fred said sarcastically, nudging him. "But seriously, you're ok with not-"  
"It's not like we haven't done anything." James protested. "And I'll wait as long as she wants me to."  
"Aww, you're so cute. Cute little virgin James."

"Don't make me hit you." He replied, glaring.

The door opened beside them, and Al came inside. He was on his own, not with Scorpius; that was a little weird.

"Hey, Severus." James said as Al sat opposite them tiredly. Al just glared back.

"Oi oi, noticed your girlfriend drank yesterday! It's not often you get a girl who's done more than the guy-"  
"She's not my girlfriend." Al replied quietly.

James looked at his brother, and mentally assessed that today may be one of the days his Dad would tell him was "_Inappropriate for teasing_".

"You ok?" he carefully asked Al, not so much caring as a brother but more as a captain; he hardly wanted a moody seeker did he?  
"Fine." His brother softened a little, and leant back. "Just wound up about last night and everything. I don't really know what I'm meant to do about Mads."

James shrugged. "Talk to her?"  
"I tried that and ended up yelling and making her cry."

"Ok, here's my advice," Fred said, leaning forward seriously. "Girls are stupid. They get ridiculously upset about silly things, so the trick is to always be careful about what you say. Always. Or, just don't say anything at all."  
"Well that slightly goes against my advice of talking!" James joked.

"But who're you going to listen to Al, the _virgin_ or me?" James wrapped his arms around Fred's neck and pulled him into a headlock just as the door opened and Scorpius came inside. Al nodded at him, and Scorpius sat down without meeting James' or Fred's eyes.

"Hi." James said to him. He was a little weird with him after last night, and Scorpius knew it. Part of him just didn't like the idea of him and Rose together any more. It was irritating enough when they were just holding hands, but now his relatives seemed to have no problems with them doing so much more than that; something about them just seemed wrong.

"Listen, mate. I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to embarrass you or Rose or anything." Fred began, looking as if he was fully prepared to rant his apologies.

Scorpius mumbled in reply to Fred. It sounded like "it's ok, don't worry about it," but James was worrying about it, even if no one else was.

"What time is it?" Al asked. Fred checked his watch and told them it was 1.55. Practice started at 2. James was about to rant about the team's lack of commitment, when Jake and Lily entered the changing room. If he was thinking, James would've wondered why they were together, but he didn't because Hugo and Anna followed straight after them.

Fred, as James had expected, jumped up and kissed Anna (they had after all been separate for almost 10 hours, and they rarely left each other's sides for more than ten minutes) and the team groaned a little.

"Right, everyone ready?" James asked as he stood up. The team nodded, and turned straight back out of the door they had come in from.

Hours later, and James realised that his theories hadn't quite worked out, and logic had won; holding a Quidditch practice on New Year's Day had not ended well. Anna and Lily were tired, Jake, Al and Scorpius were distracted and even James didn't pay much attention. Hugo and Fred were the only ones really interested, and one of them was on the ground.

He told himself any practice was progress, but this session had just made him scared, even of the match against Hufflepuff.

"Guys, we have to try harder next time." James told the team once they had all changed out of their kit and were standing outside the changing rooms. "That kind of playing won't get us the cup."  
"Yeah, well maybe next practice won't be at such a stupid time." Al replied grumpily. James glared at him (after all, he'd attempted to be nice earlier) and Al rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll all try harder."

"Good. You can go if you want." On his command, the team left, including Fred and Anna. James, on his own, checked that the two bludgers were secure in their case and headed towards the castle to put the balls into the storage cupboard.

It was weird to walk around the grounds alone; normally he was busy and James would hear whispers of "_That's James Potter_." You can't hear that when there's no one around to say it.

He was quite enjoying the peace that came from being alone in the silence, while hating the lack of attention the grass around him gave him.

His little sister's voice blurring into the quiet; for a moment he wondered if he was hallucinating it. She was whispering, for some reason, and James looked around to see her.

She wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Shhhh." She was laughing, so clearly wasn't on her own. James glanced around, trying to work out where she could be hidden.

"Seriously though Lils, they can't exactly just _Avada Kadavra_ me in front of everyone. I think someone might notice." That was a boy's voice. It was a boy's voice that James recognised, but couldn't quite place. He hoped and prayed that it was Hugo, and he'd just temporarily lost his memories of his little cousin.

"Ha, you don't know my family. Craig couldn't walk for like a week after they got to him, and he could only wear baggy trousers! God knows what they did to him..."  
"I actually know that, Louis told me."

Louis... That was Jake. Jake Thomas was, for some reason, talking to Lily. _Fair enough_, James said to himself. _They're just talking_._ Teammates bonding; completely innocently._ Somehow though, he couldn't walk away and leave them; he wasn't stupid enough to just leave them. He placed the case down carefully, and tiptoed around looking for Lily.

"Seriously, they'll kill you."

James worked out they were around the corner, in an alcove of the castle, and walked towards them.

Then two things happened at once. He both heard "Yeah, but wouldn't you rather that then just sneak around.", and saw them. He saw Jake leaning against the castle wall, his arms around Lily pulling her towards him.

Roxy was right; he was stupid sometimes, but nobody could've predicted this.

They didn't see him; Lily was facing away from him and Jake was staring into her eyes in a way that made James want to _murder _him.

He pulled out his wand and cleared his throat loudly; Lily span around at the same time Jake looked up.

Their mouths dropped open in sync. Lily practically jumped away from him, and James had never seen anyone look as scared as Jake did. A horrible amusement ran through James' veins as he viewed the fear in his _teammate._

"J-James." Lily stuttered.

"What the hell is this?" James asked, his voice louder than he had expected. The more he looked at Jake and the more he thought about what they'd been saying; that ass had been _doubting_ that James would do him damage, the angrier he got.

When they both looked at each other nervously instead of replying, that tripled James' anger. "Come on, answer!" He demanded.

"J-James we're kind of together." Lily looked as terrified as Jake did, but James hardly noticed. He was just glaring at Jake, for every second more he looked at him his wand hand shook more furiously and his fist clenched more tightly.

"You're 'kind of together'?" James mimicked her, and she bit her lip as if to stop herself from crying.

"Yeah. Yeah, we-"

The fact he'd dared to speak really pushed James over the edge. He launched himself at Jake, pressing him against the wall and holding his wand at his chest. He towered over the guy, and he got some weird sadistic pleasure out of how fast Jake's heartbeat was now going out of fear.

"Don't you dare. Don't even think of speaking after you've just had your hands on my little sister!"

"James!" He heard Lily yell from behind him, but she stayed standing still. That was different; Roxy and Dom tended to try to pull James away when he pinned their boyfriends against the wall.

"What is this, then? Just wanted a younger girl?" James asked Jake sarcastically, pressing his wand further into his chest a little. Jake shook his head furiously. "Wanted another famous surname to add to your list-?"  
"No James that's not-"  
"Don't be so naive, Lils." He said, still not turning his head away from Jake. "Jake's the most popular guy in his year; he could have any one he wanted and you're the year below him. What have you got other than _"Potter_" that would make him-"  
"You really think someone could only like me because of my surname?"

Great, she was crying now. James sighed just a little. He slightly (only slightly) loosened his grip on Jake and turned to look at her. "No, that's not what I mean. But Lily he's a year older than you and has you lying to your family! Can you not see-?"

"I wanted to lie; not him!" she yelled.

"Lily, don't lie for him!" James commanded. Why would she want to lie to them? They were family, he mentally reasoned.

"It was me! I wanted to lie because I didn't- I didn't want everyone to do this!"

James turned his head back to Jake, feeling his eyes narrow so much that he got a headache. "_'Everyone'_ won't do this, because no one is ever going to see the two of you together. And neither am I." James changed his grip so he was holding onto Jake's collar. He could lift him off the floor if he wanted to. "If I even see you looking at her I swear I'll-"  
"You can't ban us from-" Lily cried between sobs.  
"Oh yes I can!" James yelled over his shoulder at her. He put himself even closer to Jake, and used all his self control to whisper quietly. "Go near my sister again, and you're dead."

He let his grip go quickly, and Jake seemed to lower to the floor. The second he was free he pushed past James and ran off in the direction of the door, glancing back at James once.

"See, he just ran away like a little boy." James told Lily. "That's not what you want."  
She looked up, and instead of looking sad she glared at him. "I hate you." She said simply, before walking away; she didn't run off in tears like James had expected, she just walked.

So James was left on his own outside, with only his anger to keep him company.

Yep, so far 2023 was going just _brilliantly._


	25. Hiding Everything

Evenin' all! (in an overly British accent)  
Thankyou very much for all the reviews. There's a little less than the last chapter but the ones I did get I value so very much!

If any of you have twitter, please follow me? LittleLissi

And, _Shanii21 _made me wonder who everyone's favourite characters/couples are from this story? My best friend is like in love with Lily and Jake. I think I love James. Or Scorpius. Who my best friend says isn't sexy enough, so I plan on fixing that... ;)

Hope you enjoy, keep reviewing/favouriting/alerting.

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter's not mine. Although, I did have a dream where I met him. It was a good dream.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty Five- Hiding Everything)  
**_  
_Rose had thought it would be harder to find Louisa and get her own her own, but it wasn't. She was sat in the common room on her own when Rose had gone downstairs; it was perfect.

"Hey Lou." Rose said as casually as she could. She'd never been any good at lying when she wanted something though; the only person that couldn't see straight through her was her father.

"Hi..?" Louisa replied, raising her eyebrows suspiciously as Rose sat down next to her.

"How're you?" Rose asked, smiling in a way that she already knew was weird.

"I'm ok, what about you?"  
"I'm alright. Where is everyone?"  
"Quidditch practice. And Roxy and Craig are in our dorm so I'm avoiding it. And Louis was here, but he went up to sort some chess thing."  
"Oh right." Rose replied, not really listening. All she heard was that there was no one around; she could talk to Lou easily.  
Louisa nodded, and looked at Rose in a weird way. "What do you want, Rose?" she asked cautiously.

Rose sighed, not able to keep up the weird pretence any more. "Right, remember last night?"  
"Yeah." Louisa replied, putting her book down. "What about it?"  
"Well do you remember the game?"  
"I never? Yeah I remember that too. "  
"Right, well I just... I need your help."  
Then Louisa, as Rose had expected, turned into the caring head-girl type. "Why what's wrong?"

"I..." It was a weird subject to bring up. It was getting easier with Scorp, but to bring it up with the head girl, her cousin's girlfriend... She considered standing and leaving straight away, but she reminded herself that Louisa was her friend, and she needed the help. "Remember what everyone ended up talking about?"  
"Er... Oh, you mean-"  
"Yeah." Louisa looked at her warily, leaning away from her. "I can't talk to anyone else-" Rose began to beg.  
"What about Roxy? Dom?" She asked hopefully.

"They're my family. They'd freak out and tell James and he can't _ever_ know."

"Why?"  
Rose shrugged, assuming it was obvious and Louisa was just playing stupid. "He has enough trouble with Scorp. It'd just make everything more complicated."  
"Well everything gets more complicated when you add sex to it." Rose nodded, wondering if she had in fact come to the wrong person; Louisa hadn't even done it, how would she be any help? But now Rose had started, she was kind of stuck with her. "Haven't you thought about talking to your Mum or-"  
"She'd tell Dad." Rose shook her head. "And that'd be even worse than James."  
"James wouldn't be _that_ bad-"  
"Who're you kidding? He-he'd kill him. Look, are you helping me or not because I really need you."  
Louisa nodded. Rose knew she would agree eventually; she was too helpful for her own good.

"Thank you." Rose sighed gratefully. "Look, you can't tell anyone. Not even, well especially not James. Or Dom or-"  
"Yeah I get it. Don't tell anyone."  
"Basically, yeah."

"Right. So what do you need me to do?"

Rose sighed, not sure exactly how to start. Whilst thinking, she heard the portrait hole flying open and the noise of people coming through it.

"Rose!" She turned around to see Fred, and hoped and prayed that he wouldn't come and sit down when she had finally got Louisa to help her. "I need to apologise to you about yesterday."

"It's ok." Rose mumbled, looking at Louisa who was watching her sympathetically.

"Right. We left James behind so when he gets up here, tell him we're having the chess tournament upstairs in Al's room. He should already know but just remind him Lou, yeah? Oh, and Anna told me to tell you that she and Dom are in the library, and they want your help later."  
Louisa nodded vaguely, her eyes still on Rose. "No problem." The rest of them had just gone straight upstairs, and Fred followed them. The noise of their footsteps echoed into the common room; it was like a centaur stampede.

"Right." Louisa said, turning back to Rose. "So you and Scorpius are thinking of-?"  
"Yeah."  
"So you've talked about it, properly?"  
Rose nodded. "That's why I'm here. We tried to think of people we could go to and, well Al's Scorp's best friend so that kind of cuts him off, and everyone in our year would just spread it around and then my family are everywhere and-"

"Yeah. Well it's good that you've talked about it and know what you want." Louisa said awkwardly. Rose nodded equally as uncomfortably. "Look, you know all about protection and everything don't you?"  
"Yeah. Vaguely, I just don't know where to get it from. I looked through the school rules and only seventh years are allowed to ask at the Hospital Wing, so that's no good unless-"

"Unless you send a seventh year down there for you." Louisa now seemed to completely understand what Rose wanted her to do, and she sighed.  
Rose nodded, looking at her hopefully. "Basically."  
Louisa sighed tiredly. "I... They're going to think that me and James are-"  
"It's all anonymous anyway. They're not allowed to say anything because you're Of Age." Rose was practically pleading now, and she knew it. She also knew, though, that Louisa couldn't not- help. It wasn't taking advantage; it was being smart with your resources, she thought.

"Right. But if I go down there for you then-"  
The portrait hole slammed shut again; both girls turned to watch as Jake Thomas came running through the common room and straight up the stairs. Rose didn't really have time to think about the weirdness of that, since she was so close to convincing Louisa to help her.

"Lou, please?"  
"You can't ever tell James. He'd kill me." She sighed, looking resigned.  
Rose shook her head furiously. "Of course not."  
"I mean it, you can't ever tell him. Not even in like twenty years when he's happily married and-"  
"Who're you kidding, he's going to marry you!" Rose replied. Louisa looked at her for a second, then nodded dumbly.

"Maybe. But listen, I don't know how long it will take so you have to promise you and Scorpius won't do _anything_ until then."  
Rose shook her head again. "We're not stupid."  
"I know you're not, I just don't want you to get carried away or-"

Then, once again, the portrait hole slammed shut and a blur of sobbing ginger hair practically flew up the stairs. Rose looked at Louisa worriedly, and mentally decided to go and check on her cousin when this was over.  
"So you'll sort it for us?"  
"Yeah. But only if you're sure. I mean, he's not pressuring you into anything or-"  
"No. No, he's not. He'd never do that."

Louisa nodded. "Ok then. Well just give me a little while and then..." she stopped talking as the portrait hole slammed shut yet again.

They turned to see James at their side, shuffling on his feet.

"James, are you ok?" Louisa asked him, placing her hand on his arm.

James nodded weirdly, staring down at her hand. "Yeah. I mean, no. I mean... where's Louis?"  
"Louis? He's up in Al's room. Some Chess Tournament you're meant to know about?"

"Oh, yeah, that." James blinked a few times, and then looked down at Rose. "What are you two talking about anyway?"  
"Oh. Nothing, just Ancient Runes." Rose lied quickly.

"Cool." James replied, clearly not having listened to a word they said. "I'm going up to Al's."

He then left almost as quickly as he had arrived, clenching his fists weirdly.

Rose looked at Louisa nervously. "Thank you."

"It's ok." Louisa nodded. "It's going to be hard to lie to him though."

"I'm sorry." She felt guilty; the last thing she wanted was to ruin the relationship that James had waited for since fourth year.

"I said it's ok." She shrugged a little, then stood up. "I'm going down to see Anna and Dom."  
Rose nodded. "Ok. Maybe I should go and see Lily?"

Louisa told her that was a good idea, then left.

Rose stood in the common room for a second and prayed that everything would work out, and that the sinking feeling in her stomach was wrong; no one would find out.

...

Fred walked towards the common room with one arm around Anna, and with Hugo, Al and Scorpius by his side. He loved walking in a group; he felt so powerful.

That was, until Anna stopped mid-walk and pulled Fred back so he almost fell over.

He looked at her, annoyed as she'd ruined his powerful moment.

"Sorry, I forgot I was going to go to the library. Me and Dom figured we'd do our essays while you guys do your weird chess thing."  
Fred looked down at her, and tried to think of an insult that slightly matched calling _The Chess Tournament_ weird.

"You're a geek." It was weak, and she knew it.

"Oh baby, you fail." She then stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek before heading off in the opposite direction. Seconds later, she turned and yelled down the corridor. "If you see Louisa, tell her we'll kill her if she doesn't help us!"

Fred laughed, and then watched as she walked away. He always watched when she walked away.

After he realised he was wasting his time doing this _again_ he turned and carried on walking.

"So, who's your money on for the chess game?" Al asked Fred as they went up the stairs, smiling at him smartly as if he knew where Fred had just been looking.

"I'm being daring, and going for James." Fred replied, jokingly.

They laughed in reply, and then they all agreed that their only chance of winning would be betting on Hugo. Which would be stupid, because then they'd all owe each other money and it'd cancel out.

Despite being relatively stupid, Hugo was disturbingly amazing at chess. For this, Fred blamed his Uncle Ron. It was all inherited, and unfair; someone shouldn't be able to win a game because of their genes, or at least that was what he claimed every time he lost to his cousin that was three years younger than him.  
Hugo first beat him when he was seven, and Fred was ten. Seven! It was one of those Weasley moments that he'd simply never forget. It had happened every year since; last year Hugo even beat his own father. It was the stuff of legends; Fred had even let it slip in the common room and it had been a headline in the Daily Prophet. _"Ron Weasley beaten at chess by his own son!" _The article went into ridiculous detail about how the person who had "_saved the world" _by playing chess had been beaten by his own offspring. It really wound up Ron, which pleased the family greatly.

When they reached the common room, after talking about Hugo's weird talent, Fred saw Rose and Louisa weirdly engrossed in conversation. He considered not interrupting but then changed his mind; he had to apologise to her, seeing as he had done that with Scorpius.

"Rose. I need to apologise to you about yesterday."  
Rose shrugged. "It's ok."

She didn't really say it like she meant it, and Fred sure didn't feel forgiven, but he nodded uncertainly and said "right" before turning to Louisa. "We left James behind so when he gets up here, tell him we're having The Chess Tournament upstairs in Al's room. He should already know but just remind him Lou, yeah?" she nodded, and Fred was about to go to Al's room before he remembered, "Oh, and Anna told me to tell you that she and Dom are in the library, and they want your help later." Of course, he worded it nicely compared to Anna's death threat from earlier.

She replied "No problem" and Fred followed the rest of the boys up the stairs to Al's room, where Louis had been given the job of setting up chess tables.

The Weasley/Potter chess tournament was a big deal now, somehow; it had been so for years. Teddy would always come over to play, and Uncle Charlie would even try and visit. Even Uncle Percy would come over, despite being weird; his daughters didn't even go to Hogwarts for Merlin's sake.

This year though, the tournament seemed somehow more important. It was like being at home again.

"Hey, you haven't seen Jake have you?" Louis asked Fred, as if the conversation had already been taking place before Fred had come inside.

"I thought he was with us but... obviously not." Al shrugged.

"Weird." Louis shrugged.

That was weird, Fred agreed; Jake was normally around, the same way Scorpius was. They were Honorary Weasleys.

While Fred thought this, he turned and saw Scorpius sitting on his bed with books out.

"You not playing, Scorpius?" Fred asked him.

The blonde boy shook his head in reply. "No, I'm fine. It's a family thing so-"  
"You can play. I guess you're a Weasley, in law."

Al groaned. "Eugh, don't put ideas in his head! My best friend marrying my cousin-"  
"Oi! Your Dad married my Dad's sister, so you're really not allowed to be weird about cousins." Hugo replied.  
"That's true. Yuck, that'd be like Scorpius marrying Lily-"  
"Why am I suddenly marrying everyone?" Scorpius asked, getting up and walking towards where the chess boards were set up.

"Well, you're going to marry Rose aren't you?" Fred asked, mock seriously. One of the best things about Scorpius was how nervous he was now whenever Fred pretended to be serious.

"Oh, er-"  
"He's just kidding! You don't have to marry her-"  
"Although, if you break her heart we'll kill you."

Fred smiled to himself. Louis and Hugo could practically recite James and Fred's speech; they were learning.

Scorpius just stuttered for a second, before Al began to laugh at him.

"Right, guessing we have to wait for James, right?" Al asked, when he'd stopped snickering.  
"Yep." Fred replied, sitting in one of the seats Louis had stolen from the common room somehow.  
They went quiet for a second, before Al spoke again. "I've never thought of Mum and Dad as him marrying his best friend's sister. That's pretty weird isn't it?"  
"Yeah. My poor father!" Hugo replied. "Although, he married his best friend. That isn't exactly normal-"  
"My Dad got a veela girl, I think he wins out of best wife!"

Fred laughed with his cousins, but was distracted. He didn't really like talking about how his parents got together; mainly since he didn't know. For years he'd thought it was just classic boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, and boy and girl then get married and have exceptionally cool twins as children. That was until two years ago, when Fred had found his Dad's pictures from the Yule Ball. At first he'd not thought much of them, he'd in fact thought it was quite cool that his Dad and his Mum went to the ball together. That was until he realised that it wasn't his Dad at the ball with his Mum, it was his Dad's dead twin brother. For weeks all he'd done was think about those haunting photographs, and after weeks of analysing he'd been forced to assume that his parents were only together out of grief, and not love like he'd always thought.

Of course, he hadn't told anyone. Not even Anna or James. Or Roxy. He knew that was bad; his sister probably deserved to know but she would just ask their father, and he hated talking about his twin. It'd just cause unnecessary heartache.

He was knocked out of these thoughts when James stormed inside, slamming the door behind him. Fred looked at him weirdly; he'd been fine when they'd left the Quidditch pitch. What could've _possibly_ happened between here and there, he wondered?

"Louis." He said angrily.

Louis, clearly not seeing the warning signs that Fred could see, stood up opposite James and mimicked his weird shuffling feet. "James?" he replied in similar tone of voice.

James just glared and exhaled quickly.

"James, are you alright?" Fred dared to ask.

That was stupid.

"No. No, I'm not. Because, do you want to know what I've just seen? This guy's scumbag _'best friend'_ kissing my sister!"

Fred felt his jaw drop open, and Al's hand slipped off the chess table and knocked some pawns off as all the boys in the room looked at the oldest Potter in shock.

"What?" Louis asked simply, looking completely confused.

"Jake and Lily."

Louis laughed, before looking up, seeing James was serious and saying "No way…"

"Yes, Louis, yes way. Did you know?"  
"Does he look like he knew?" Fred pointed out. Louis was confused by their grandmother's clock; right now he looked as if someone had just asked him to attempt a muggle Algebra exam.

"Well I don't know! Al knew about Rose and Scorpius and didn't tell us!"

James turned and glared at Al for a second, and then his eyes flicked to Scorpius and rested there. Clearly whatever James had seen of Jake and Lily had made him reconsider Rose and Scorpius as well.

Fred knew James far too well; he could practically see as his brain battled between completely giving into anger and wrecking the entire dorm or sitting down and calmly trying to work things out.

Louis shook his head. "No way. Jake'd never go for Lily! She's younger than him and-"  
"And?"  
"That's it. It's just wrong; he'd never-"

"Are you saying I'm lying?" James clenched his fists.

"Look, what did you see? Maybe you got it wrong or-?"  
"Well, Albus, what I saw was him kissing _our_ little sister. And then I was told that they were _'together'_."  
"And then?" Fred asked cautiously. He wondered for a second if he was going to have to cover up for some sort of murder.

"Then..." James sighed. "Then I pinned Jake to the wall, banned him from ever looking at Lily again and he ran off."  
"And Lily?"  
"Lily burst into tears, told me she hated me and went to her dorm."  
The last sentence seemed to have knocked the anger out of James, and he sat down on the end of Scorpius' bed exhaustedly.

"Louis, couldn't you tell something was different? I mean, he didn't tell you or anything?"

Louis shook his head. "He didn't tell me, but he has been a bit weird lately."  
"Weird how?" Fred asked cautiously.

"He's been..." Louis sighed, as if he didn't want to say the answer in his head. "He's been happier."

Fred closed his eyes; this was like Rose and Scorpius all over again. Except this time it was worse in some respects; sure, he didn't have a Death Eater father that had a rep for trying to kill Fred's entire family, but he was a year older.

"Huh." Hugo said quietly, as if he'd just thought of something.  
"Huh what? You didn't know did you?" James asked, turning his head a little to make eye contact with Hugo.  
"No. I didn't know."  
"Then why did you make a noise?" Al asked.

Hugo bit his lip. "It's nothing. Or at least you won't want to hear it-"  
"What is it?" Fred uncrossed his arms and leant forward.

"Just, what Louis said about Jake being happier..."

"Yeah?"  
"Well, haven't you noticed Lily's been happier lately too?"


	26. Eye To Eye

Omg, 26 reviews! That's insane!  
Please keep reviewing guys! They're very special to me. :)

Sorry for taking a fair while to update; I was enjoying watching the number of emails go up! Tehe!

_**Disclaimer- **__The world is cruel, and Harry Potter isn't mine, nor are the characters.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty Six- Eye To Eye)**

Lily didn't speak to any of her family for the rest of the holidays. That was five whole days of hardly leaving her room other than at the end of meal times to rush down and eat a little.

They all knew now. The girls had come upstairs and tried to talk to her, but she hadn't been interested. They'd told her they were sorry for what James did, but not one of them said it was wrong; they talked about how it was "_James-ish_" but none of them said that he shouldn't have done it.

She didn't know what she had expected when they found out; some stupid naive part of her thought they might surprise her and not mind it too much. She'd known that that wouldn't happen though and that was the worst part of it all; she knew what would happen and she just didn't do anything. She just sat there, putting it off and letting herself fall for Jake more and more until James happened.

He was such a... Lily could think of about twenty words to describe him, not one of them suitable for anyone's ears. How could he be so closed-minded and pathetic; thinking he can control everyone else just through threats and fear?

Today was the worst day yet. Today she had to go into class and see _them _in the corridors. She had to see _him._

She began the day by avoiding breakfast and racing straight to potions and sitting in the empty classroom until the kids started to file in.

She could tell, due to the fact there weren't many whispers, that James had made sure that the _sordid little secret _had stayed in the family.

She doodled in her notebook, writing curses to use on James or drawing broken hearts; anything to concentrate on so she didn't just burst into tears.

When Hugo came in, she had half expected him to completely avoid her; he was a wimp like that. Instead though, he sat next to her and carefully cleared his throat.

"Not seen you in a while." He commented awkwardly. Lily couldn't help but think that his sister may have commanded him to sit with her.

Lily rolled her eyes in reply.

"It's been, what, five days?"

Lily shrugged. If he was right, and it had only been those few days, then time had gone ridiculously slowly. It felt like forever since... since she'd seen him.

He spun his wand around between his fingers absentmindedly. "I won the chess tournament." He told her smiling a little.

"Well done?" she replied sarcastically, looking at him a little angrily. She didn't care. She didn't care about anything to do with any of them; they were all just little James-worshippers.

"Sorry. I was just telling you what you missed-"  
"I wasn't ill; I don't _care_ what I missed. If I cared I'd be down there."

"Lily..." Hugo sighed. "Look, I don't really get what happened but James is sorry, I can tell. He'd never admit it but-"  
"Well he's going to have to isn't he?"  
"He can't if you won't even look at him."

Lily shook her head.

He didn't speak to her again, they both just sat there awkwardly for the whole lesson while the professor explained some of the theory behind Polyjuice potion.

When the lesson ended, Lily collected her books quickly and left. It didn't matter that her next lesson was with Hugo; she wasn't going to walk with him.

While walking down the corridors Lily noticed how busy Hogwarts seemed. She'd got too used to it being empty in the holidays, now it seemed completely full of people. It was good; she could weave between them and avoid everyone she didn't want to see. She hid behind a group of seventh years to dodge Rose, Al and Scorpius and ducked in front of a statue to not be spotted by Fred, Anna and Dom. She was surprised to see them without James; they normally followed him everywhere. As she was thinking this, her eyes came straight into contact with Jake's.

It was as if time stopped. The rest of the school continued to blur around her, but the two of them just stood completely still and looked at each other. Tears filled her own eyes almost the second they hit Jake's tired brown ones.

She felt a hand on her shoulder what felt like years later, and turned to see Roxy looking down at her.

"Lily." She said, glancing up in Jake's direction. Lily followed her eye line to see that he was still stood at the same place. "What class are you meant to be going to?"

Lily sighed, trying to think whilst blinking her eyes dry. "Erm... Herbology?"

Roxy nodded, and then bit her lip.

"Professor Longbottom shouldn't mind if you miss one lesson."  
Lily looked at her confusedly, then shook her head. "No, I want to-"  
"Lily, you're coming with me."

She nodded dumbly, looking up to see that Jake was gone; she decided she didn't care what she did any more.

Roxy took her hand and led her through the now emptier corridors, up a few sets of stairs and towards a portrait that Lily had never fully noticed before. Roxy mumbled some sort of password and the portrait seemed to simply disappear, revealing a hole like the portrait hole into the common room. Lily tiredly climbed through it and looked around a room that looked like some ridiculously comfortable living room; large blue sofas and arms chairs surrounded a burning fireplace.

"Sit down." Roxy practically commanded, before flicking her wand and opening the two doors on opposite walls of the room. Then she mumbled something that sounded like "No one in." and sat down next to Lily. "Ok Lils, let's talk."

Lily shrugged. "What about?"

Why did Roxy care? She'd never cared before; she hadn't even been one of the girls who'd come upstairs to see Lily. Roxy had become almost an outsider; she seemed to always just be on the outskirts with Craig.

Lily couldn't help but respect her though, since she was one of the only people who didn't do as James said like some stupid trained hippogriff.

"About you, Jake Thomas, and James."

...

"I don't want to talk about it." Lily replied honestly.

Roxy just shrugged. She wasn't doing this because she was head girl, or even because she couldn't stand hearing James whine or complain about Jake and Lily. No, she was doing this because she was Lily's cousin, and she didn't want to see looking this hurt; Uncle Harry would kill her if she just let her suffer.

"Well you're going to. We're going to work this out, you and me." Roxy said a little hopefully. Lily seemed completely shut off in some other depressing world.  
"There's nothing to work out."  
"Yes, there is."

Lily just shook her head.

"Look I know James can be a complete idiot-"  
"No you don't. You've got no idea-"  
That made Roxy laugh.

"Are you kidding?"

Lily looked at her sceptically.

"You have met Craig right?"

"Well yeah, but-"  
"And you have heard about what James did to him?" Roxanne continued.  
"I've heard rumours. But he didn't try and hurt him or yell or-"  
Roxy laughed again. "Oh believe me, he yelled. He told me that if Craig ever looked at me again then he'd kill him. And then he threatened to lie and tell my parents that we'd slept together, just so I was forced to break up with him." Roxy was surprised that Lily didn't already know just how much James had hated Craig.  
They had never gotten on, not really. Craig had debated in History of Magic that some of the actions of the Order of The Phoenix were unnecessary in Second year, and it was all downhill from there. James just had grudge against him, maybe because he was hot, smart and popular due to something other than his surname? The day Fred had found out and told James about Roxy and Craig was not a good day.

She could see herself in Lily; she knew better than anyone how Lily would be feeling, and she didn't want her to feel like that.

"Oh." Lily replied simply.

"Yeah. So, what are you going to do about James?"  
"Well shouldn't he apologise-?"  
"That's not going to happen, and you know it."

Lily nodded; Roxy couldn't help but think that James would hate to see that agreement in his little sister's eyes. "I don't know then. Just, ignore him, I guess."  
"Forever?"

Lily replied "yes" weakly.

"You're going to ignore your big brother forever? I have a better idea." Roxy watched as Lily looked slightly interested for about a millisecond. "Keep going out with Jake, and just sod James. Let him deal with it on his own."  
"I... I can't."  
"James isn't anything to be scared of, not really. You know he only does it because he loves you, and once he sees that you're happy he'll get over himself."

"I'm not so sure." Lily replied simply. "Besides, weren't you and Craig kind of messed up knowing that people didn't want you together?"

Roxy shrugged. She'd never thought about it at the time, all she had known was that she couldn't give up on Craig just because of what her stupid family said or did.

"They always say that they'll hate him, but they get over it. Look at me and Craig, and Rose and Scorpius. Hey, James even said he was going to hate Anna! He gets used to it, he just doesn't like change."

Lily seemed to agree, but didn't admit it out loud.

"So when did you last speak to Jake?" Roxy continued.  
"When James yelled at him."

"Ah. Well find him, and fix everything. Don't care about what your stupid brother says."

Lily nodded nervously. "Thanks, Roxy."

"You're welcome. I just hope I helped a little bit."  
"You did." She replied, honestly. Roxy didn't feel like she'd made a difference; she felt like she'd just shown Lily what she already knew.

At that moment, Louisa came through the portrait hole.

"Hey Lou." Roxy smiled at her.

"Hey. Lily, what are you...?" Louisa's voice trailed away at Roxy's head shake, and then Lily stood up.

"I'm going to go to class." She told Roxy. She headed towards the exit, then turned around. "Thanks."  
"You're welcome. James'll come around, don't worry."

Lily nodded, then left.

"You told her James'd come around?" Louisa asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah. He will eventually. "  
"I don't know, he seems pretty angry-"

"Hey, who's the cousin here?" Roxy joked.

Louisa nodded, smiling, then sighed. "Right, I've just got to go out for a bit."

"Out? Where to?"  
"Nowhere."

Roxy could read Louisa like a book, and knew when she was lying. She raised her eyebrows disbelievingly and Louisa squirmed.

"Where're you going?" Roxy teased.

"Hospitalwing." Louisa replied ridiculously quickly.

"Why? Are you sick?"

"No." She replied quietly.

"Then...?" Roxy worked it out mid-sentence; partially cursing her brain for working it out. "Oh. I didn't realise you and James were-"  
"We're not!" she practically yelled.

"Then why are you-?"  
"I mean, we're not yet." She spoke speedily, and didn't meet Roxy's eyes.

Roxy nodded, and Louisa shuffled on her feet. "I'm going to go."  
She turned and left through the hole, and Roxy just watched her leave.

It was times like this she was proud of herself for being in such a stable, simple relationship, unlike all the rest of her cousins.


	27. Sorting Things Out

Hey guys! Wow, I feel like I've not posted for a while; I'm sorry it's taken so long but I've been slightly distracted by my French oral and ended up typing _A mon avis, je pense que James est un idiot aujourd'hui! _Not good! :)

Thankyou for all the reviews though; they sure mean a lot. Please keep reviewing, favourite-ing, alerting etc?

I promise the next chapter will be sooner, and that it'll be longer/better than this. (I have in fact already written it, but I'll wait for 10 reviews or so!)

_Merci, et review s'il vous plait!_

_**Disclaimer: **__It's cruel, but Harry Potter isn't mine. Although it is only 198 days until the new movie! EEEE! Can't wait to see who they cast as Scorp; I will full on SCREAM if he's ugly!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty Seven- Sorting Things Out)**

Due to the fact that Lily was ridiculously pathetic, it took her until Friday to get the courage to actually speak to Jake.

She'd dared to speak to her family again, after realising that she was being a complete hypocrite for being mad at them for doing as James said but also obeying him. When she'd sat down they'd just smiled knowingly at her and acted like she'd never been away; talking about Quidditch practice on Sunday. Of course, she'd refused to talk to James for obvious reasons; despite the fact he'd smiled hopefully at her a few times she'd just ignored him, telling herself he couldn't be forgiven until he'd apologised.

It was harder to talk to Jake again. She couldn't do it, despite the fact she'd practically rehearsed what she would say to him. She just didn't have the strength to search the school for him and he was never in the common room now he wasn't hanging out with Louis like normal.

This changed on Friday, when the rest of her cousins were so engrossed in conversation that Lily was brave enough to go up the boys' dormitory stairs, fed up of sitting and listening all her older cousins talk about how lucky they were to have each other.

"Lily?" Louis had looked down at her at the stairs as she climbed them.

"Oh hey, have you come from your dorm? Is Jake in there?"

He raised his eyebrows. "You're going to see Jake?"  
She shrugged. "I need to talk to him."  
"Why? James said that you're not allowed to be together-"

"Well maybe I don't care about what James said."

"You should." He said seriously.

Lily rolled her eyes; Louis was such a pain sometimes with his sucking-up-to-James ways.

"Look, have you seen Jake or not?"

"I don't know." He replied, annoyoingly.  
She sighed a little angrily. "What do you mean you don't know? You've either seen him or you haven't."

"He could be in there. I wasn't really looking."

"Why? I thought he was your best friend?"  
"I don't tend to keep friendships with guys who go out with my little cousins."

She glared at him for that, hiding the hurt she felt that she could have lost Jake his best friend. "Wow, you're almost as pathetic as James!" She said, pushing past him up the stairs.

"I'm taking that as a compliment." He shouted after her.  
"Well it wasn't meant to be one. And don't you dare tell James I went up to see Jake."

Louis looked at her. "Or what?"  
"Or..." For all her threats, Lily didn't actually have anything to use against Louis.

"Exactly." He replied, smirking.

Lily sighed, and then continued up the stairs. Her life was hard enough with James around; she really didn't need a clone of him as well.

She went to the top floor; she remembered hearing Jake mention that was his dorm. She considered knocking on the door, but then realised that he could just ask her to leave so she opened it without making a sound.

The only boy's dorm she'd been in was Hugo's, and Jake's was no different; it had the same four beds, the same red and gold decor, the same trunks at the end of the bed... the only difference was that this dorm was a little messier.

One of the beds had the drapes around it, and she cautiously walked towards it.

"Jake?" she asked quietly.

There was movement from the other side of the drapes, and then the curtain snapped open as Lily hurt the swish of a wand.

"Lily?" he asked, looking thoroughly tired and angry with the world.

"Hi." She replied simply, looking at him sympathetically.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her, glancing at the door behind her.

"We need to talk." She told him, pulling her wand out and murmuring a spell to lock the door.

She realised that _'we need to talk'_ never meant good things, so sat down on his bed nervously.

"Right."

"Look, I…" She sighed, trying to think of a way to begin. "I'm sorry about my brother."  
He sighed. "Don't be. You knew that he'd do it-"  
"Yeah, but I didn't exactly help."  
"Well I ran! What kind of a Gryffindor am I? I didn't even stay and fight for you-"  
"It wouldn't have done any good." She told him, smiling a little. She was slightly comforted by the fact he had mentioned fighting for her; he hadn't completely given up.

"Maybe not."

She sighed. "Look, we're not going to... stop are we?"

"What?" he looked at her confusedly.

"We're not breaking up because of James, are we?" She bit her lip hopefully, and he shook his head and sat up a little more.

"Lily, he said he'd kill me if I even looked at you again."

"Jake, that's just words! He'd never actually-"  
"He didn't pin me to the wall with words did he?"

Lily shook her head, and quietly replied "Well no but-"

"He'd kill me."

Lily felt tears burn her eyes. "So we are over then?"

"We haven't got an option, Lils."  
"Yes we have! We can just ignore him and not let him win-!"

"It's not winning Lily! You can't fight someone who has all the power in the entire school-"  
"That's not true, he doesn't-"  
"Really? Because your entire family's glaring at me at any chance they get, James is whispering curses whenever I walk past and Louis' completely ignoring me! I think you'll find that your brother is completely in control, and if he doesn't like something then no one else will!"

Lily let tears drip down her cheeks, and Jake blinked back guiltily.

"Who cares what everyone else thinks?" she asked quietly.

"I do!"  
"More than you care about me?"

He stared at her silently. To Lily, this was enough of a response. She stood up, and started to leave.

"Lily, I never should've started this. I was stupid to think we could've worked once everyone found out."

She just nodded again, feeling the tears leave tracks down her cheeks.

"I do care about you, Lily."

"Yeah, just not enough."  
He replied in some way or another, but Lily couldn't hear it through the door.

Well that was that. James had got his way again, Lily sighed to herself. It turned out everyone else was right; he did have all the power in the school, and Lily decided that she may as well just give up and follow him like everybody else did.

...

James sat, staring straight ahead.

Why was nothing in his life ever simple?

If it wasn't his little sister refusing to speak to him, it was his own girlfriend acting weird.

He'd decided that tonight would be good time to talk to her about it; about why she was acting so distant... And about what Roxy had said to him.

Because God, that had confused him.

It had been on Monday, and he'd gone into the common room and asked Roxy where Louisa was...

"_At the hospital wing." Roxanne replied, smiling up at him in a weird way. _

"_Why? Is she ok? I mean, what's wrong with her?"_

_Roxy looked at him confusedly, then laughed a little. "Nothing's wrong you loser, you know why she's there."  
"Er, no. I don't. Care to share it with me?" he asked her. _

_She raised her eyebrows, as if she didn't believe him, then stood up and pulled him to the corner, away from Fred, Anna, Dom, Rose, Scorpius and Al who unsubtly turned and tried to lip read._

"_You know." She said, looking at him meaningfully._

"_I have no idea." James replied. He was excessively confused now; not something he really wanted to feel on a Monday night._

"_She's... She's gone to get The Potion."  
"What potion?" he asked, dumbly._

"_You know!" she replied, looking at him like he was stupid once again._

"_No I don't! Stop telling me I know things!"_

"_So she can sleep with you!"  
James blinked back."Sleep with me?"  
"Yeah, I though you talked about that?"  
"Well, yeah. But we said we were going to wait."_

_Roxy pulled a face, blinking dumbly. James was slightly pleased that she was now the one who looked stupid. "Oh. I assumed you knew that she was-"  
"Well I didn't. Since I'm involved in this it would be pretty nice if she told me in advance!"_

"_Maybe she was just-"  
"I'm going to talk to her!"  
"No! Don't." Roxy sighed. "Just let her talk to you on her own. You can't just walk up to her and ask her about it; that's just embarrassing!"_

So apparently, James was going to have sex with his girlfriend.

He had no idea where or when or what had made Louisa change her mind, but he was going to sleep with Louisa. He was sure it would be nice to know beforehand.

He decided he would give her until Thursday; that was three days to bring it up with him. Then Thursday came and went without a word. James had even (unsubtly) attempted to hint it at her, by asking her if she'd seen the school nurse recently. That hadn't worked; he'd got minor mumbles as a reply and then been asked about Quidditch. Louisa _never _talked about Quidditch.

Something very weird was going on with her.

Now it was Friday, he decided five days was a long enough chance to tell him. He had to make her talk about it.

So, after sitting and playing with her hair in her dorm for a long while, he finally dared to open his mouth.

"Hey listen, Roxy mentioned that you went to the hospital wing. Why?"

She was a rubbish liar, he knew that. And she couldn't avoid the question this time; he was going to find out what was going on.


	28. Plans Fall Through

Thanks so much for the review! Keep them coming! :) You'll make me smile every time!

I also feel I should warn you all, because at this point the fic earns it's T rating... you'll see.

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Harry Potter. Or Hermione, Or Ron, Or Fred, Or George, or Draco. I'm gutted.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_**  
(Chapter Twenty Eight- Plans Fall Through)**

Rose was fed up; fed up of the common room, fed up of school, fed up of just sitting listening to talk of Quidditch.

She'd spent the whole day like this; fed up of knowing where she wanted to be and who she wanted to be with but having no way of getting there.

Now was different though; she could go exactly where she wanted to be. Realising this, she stood up and walked up the stairs to the boys' dorms, barely saying goodnight to any of her family.

She couldn't be bothered to knock on the door; she never normally did.

When she opened the door though, she realised that she probably should have.

She came face to face with her half-naked, soaking wet boyfriend. That's probably why doors were invented; to avoid ridiculously embarrassing yet equally as sexy moments like this.

"Rose what're you doing in here?" he asked, an amused yet embarrassed look crossing his face.

Rose didn't fully register his question; she was far too distracted. His hair was messy and damp, and drops were falling from the ends of it down onto his beautifully pale skin. The amount of muscle he had on his stomach was unbelievable; his everyday clothes did not do him justice.

It was weird; she'd seen him shirtless once before, but this time it was somehow a little different. Probably because the only thing stopping him being completely naked was the towel wrapped around his waist.

"Rose?" he asked again. She looked up to see him looking at her weirdly.

"S-Sorry." She laughed nervously. "I'll always knock from now on."  
"That'd be nice. Mainly because next time you could open the door to Al and not me."

If anything could've distracted Rose at that moment, it was the image of her cousin in as little clothes as Scorp was wearing. She felt like gagging, and closed her eyes fiercely to try and wipe the image from her brain.

"Ew." She said quietly.

"Sorry." He laughed.

She shrugged, opening her eyes again to see Scorp still in just as little clothing. "It's... fine." She replied, once again distracted.

Scorp laughed again, but this time it was clearly directed at her. "What, do you want a picture or something?"

At this, Rose burst into laughter, although she couldn't help but ask herself where the nearest camera was. "No. You know; whatever."

He smiled at her knowingly. "Mind if I get dressed then?"  
"Yeah, that's fine."  
She folded her arms, raising her eyebrows.

"Turn around then!" he told her.

"Make me." She replied, teasingly.

He tilted his head at her. "Rose, are you serious?" His voice came out a little higher than normal.

She laughed, loving how freaked out he looked. "No, it's fine; I'll turn around!"

She span around, and studied the back of the door. Working out what the markings on the door looked like was the only way to force herself to not turn back around and glance at... whatever was going on.

"Can I turn around yet?" she asked impatiently, after convincing herself that the knot on the door looked like a blast-ended screwt.

"Yeah, I guess." He replied.

She turned to see him doing up his jeans, still not wearing a shirt.

"Right, so when you said I could turn around…?"  
"I figured you might want to turn around now." He smirked.  
She smiled. "You figured right."

She walked towards him, and placed both of her hands on his chest. Ignoring the slightly perverted voice in her head that pointed out how firm his muscles were under her fingers, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. It was different, kissing him with his bare skin pressing against her.

"I love you." She murmured when she had eventually broken away from him.

"You too." He replied, his eyes slightly glazed over.

His lips hit hers again, in a different way to before. This time they seemed to sort of smash together, and she found herself moving her hands further up his chest while his hands moved further down her back.

Somehow, Rose wasn't sure how, but in the space of ten minutes Rose found herself on Scorp's bed, having cast a spell so the door was locked and no one could hear them outside. They were kissing each other fiercely, Rose loving the feeling of Scorp's pale skin under her hands.

Then she felt his hands on her bare back, moving up under her shirt. She wondered what he was thinking for a moment; whether he knew what he was aiming for or just letting himself lose control like she was.

Then it dawned on her that she was _losing control._ And she couldn't afford to lose control, not just yet.

"We... we can't." She gasped, pulling away from him and then hating the completely lost look on his face for that moment. "Not now."

He nodded vaguely, barely looking away from her lips. "When?" He asked, irresistibly desperately.

She smiled at him; this she knew the answer to. She'd spoken to Louisa today.

"Tomorrow." She replied, before kissing him on the lips quickly and jumping off the bed and out of the room, feeling his eyes on her back the whole way out.

She walked all the way back into her room, her legs still shaking with adrenaline, before collapsing on her own bed. She wondered if she'd feel any different tomorrow, any more grown up, once she'd completely lost control.

...

James looked down at Louisa expectantly, having just asked her why she went to the hospital wing, and watched as she sat up. "Oh, yeah that. I just... I had bit of headache, so I went to see if there was anything that could-"  
"That's not what Roxy thought." Out of everyone, Louisa was the second worst liar James knew; second only to Dom.

"Oh, yeah well she kind of assumed that... You know."  
"Well, why didn't you correct her?"

"I didn't see the point." He refused to believe her; Roxy was her best friend and they talked about everything; Louisa would have explained if she could have.

"So, why did you go to the hospital wing?" he asked again, hoping to trip her up.  
"I told you, I had a head-"  
"That's not true."

She sighed, then stood up awkwardly.

"Fine. Ok, I went to get The Potion, but it's not... It's not for me."

James raised his eyebrows. Either her lying skills had suddenly become brilliant, or she was telling the truth. Either way, he sighed and relaxed a little. "Well who's it for?" he asked, purely because he now wanted gossip; Fred'd want to know.  
"I can't tell you."  
"Why?"  
"You... you don't know them."

"I know everyone in our year." She bit her lip, and looked at him worriedly. "They're not in our year are they?"

She shook her head.

"That... that means they're underage then. You're helping underage kids to-"  
"It's not like you make it sound, she needs help; it's better than her getting pregnant or-"  
"So there's only one girl. Sixth year?" He quizzed her.

She glared. "It's nothing to do with you!"  
"Yeah, it is. You're my girlfriend, and you've been acting weird all week. This is obviously getting to you; you're breaking school rules for this girl! Are you sure she's worth it?" He replied, a little annoyed like she had been.  
"Yes James, she needs me! Just like Roxy went to her head girl, and Fred went to the Quidditch captain, and Dom went to... Well, the seventh year she was going out with. It's what sixth years do; they find someone they trust-"  
"Gryffindor then." James told her, crossing his arms. He didn't get why she didn't just say who she was; it didn't matter that much to him. Sure, to him it was a little weird that Louisa was helping girls to have sex when she hadn't even done it, and that these girls were Rose's age, but it was up to her how she spent her time.

"How do you work that one out?" she asked angrily, clearly giving away that he was right by her expression. She was getting ridiculously worked up about this; James knew that he was just being nosy. It's not like it would really make a difference if he knew or not.

"Well, you said she trusted you, so she knew you." He felt like a detective, showing all his evidence. "Therefore she's one of the sixth year Gryffindors. Can't be Gemma; she did it ages ago. That Spinnet girl? Al's girlfriend?"

"No! None of them!"

"Well they're the only girls other than..."

Rose.

"Tell me it's not-" He began.  
She didn't reply, instead tears filled her eyes.

That was enough of an answer.

"Rose?" he yelled, standing up so quickly that if he wasn't so focused he would've gone dizzy. They seemed to swap roles; he became the angry one and she became the quieter one.

She sniffed. "Don't be angry, she needs me. And she begged me not to tell you-"  
"Why?"  
"Because she didn't want you to freak out..."  
"She's sleeping with Malfoy!" He realised this may be the _'freaking out'_ she was talking about; but he didn't care.

"No! No! She's thinking about it and she needed me to-"  
"She wouldn't! He's forcing her into it-!"  
"No, I asked her and she said that he wasn't-"  
"She would say that!"

"Look, she said that she wouldn't use it unless she was sure."  
"Wait... use it? You already gave it to her?"

She nodded her head, and James felt his mouth fall open as he paced around the room.

"When?" He asked her, panickedly.  
"This morning."  
"You mean... you mean she could be having sex with him right now-?"  
"Of course not. It takes 24 hours to work so-"  
"So they'll be doing it tomorrow! Perfect Louisa, perfect!" He felt his fists clenching, the anger bubbling up like it had when he cursed Craig, threatened Dom's boyfriend and pinned Jake to the wall.  
He sighed; he couldn't let himself get that angry around her. As much as he hated her in this moment, he didn't want to hurt her.

"I... can't believe you gave my cousin the potion." He attempted to calm himself down. "She's-"

"She's 16! It's legal for muggles-"  
"Well she's not a muggle is she? And neither are you! You can't live in this world by their rules and-!"

"_'Their'_! Muggles aren't a different species, James! We're exactly the same-"  
"I know! What do you think my Dad was fighting for?"

She glared at him, and he stared straight back.

"How can you have not told me that they were-?"  
"She made me promise not to. And besides, it's none of your business-"  
"None of my business!" he went back to shouting. "She's my cousin!"  
"Yeah. Cousin- not father! They can look after themselves!"  
"But-"  
"NO! You can't control them all; they're not little Potter Puppets that James can just scare into doing what he wants-" Now they were both angry. Just yelling at each other like his Uncle Ron and Hermione in an argument. Although James had a hunch that this argument wouldn't end in the rumoured (and disturbing) way that all of Ron and Hermione's arguments eventually finished.  
"Don't you dare say I scare them-"  
"Of course you do! You scared Jake away from being in the same room as Lily, despite the fact he made her laugh and smile in the way that she's never done with you or your family. And Roxy told me how you scared Craig last year! And you scared your little cousin so much that she was too scared to come and talk to you, or any of her cousins, about something that was important to her, and now you're trying to scare me out of helping her. But you don't care!" She yelled, her eyes so wide she looked almost deranged. "As long as James is happy you don't care about the rest of them; you don't care about breaking your little sisters' heart or forcing your cousin to lie to you! You don't-"

"Of course I care! That's why I protect them! Protect, Louisa, not scare! And any way, don't try and turn this on me! You're the one who's helping MY little cousin to have sex when she's underage to someone who's not even good enough for her-"

"Of course he's good enough for her!"

"That's not the point! You should've told me! You should've..." He didn't know what she should've done. The opposite of everything she did, he guessed. He couldn't wrap his head around it. His Louisa wouldn't do this. The girl he'd loved since fourth years couldn't lie to him about something this important. "I can't trust you anymore." He said quietly.

"You can't trust me?" She asked incredulously. "Because your little cousin came and asked me for help and I didn't tell you her secrets, you can't trust me?"

"No!" He yelled, louder than she had been.

"Well then, what are you even doing? What are we doing, if you _'Can't trust me'_?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I don't know anymore. All I know is that I can't even look at you right now."

Tears were falling fiercely down her cheeks, but she was still glaring at him through her tears. It hurt more to see her cry than it had ever done with Lily or Rose or Roxy or Dom. This felt like his heart was being stabbed with every tear that dripped down her cheek.

"I guess we're done." He sighed.

She nodded. "Get out." She said quietly. When he didn't immediately move she yelled it again."GET OUT!"

He did as he was told, turning and walking out of the portrait hole back where he had come from.

He'd let her get away; just like that. They were over. And now he hated himself.


	29. Changing Minds

Hey guys! 20 reviews. Woooo! :) Thankyou guys. 5 more and I'm at 300. :) :)  
Right, about this part; you will either love it or hate it. I'm hoping love. It doesn't have many developments but I think it's what you all want (well, from the reviews I've read). :)

_**Disclaimer: **__I have no rights to Harry Potter. :(

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Twenty Nine- Changing Minds)**

Lily couldn't stay down in the common room anymore, looking at Louis as he smirked at her, so instead decided to leave and wander around the school grounds for a while. The whole place really was beautiful, especially in the evening when the sky was an even lighter blue and it felt like night time would never hit.

The whole Jake moment kept replaying in her mind; she wondered if going back in time and doing everything differently would make a difference; maybe if she hadn't cried, or she had refused to leave, then she wouldn't have tear stains on her heart.

She knew she would never get in trouble for being around the grounds in the evening; even past curfew it would be Louisa, Craig or Roxy on duty on Friday nights and they were easy to win over. Nevertheless, hours later she decided now was a good time to head back to her dorm. It was around the time where it wasn't too early to go to bed, so she could just run up past all of her family. If James saw her upset right now, and knew it was because of Jake he'd... well, he'd gloat. And then "_kill_" Jake, apparently.

It was all words, she knew that. Well, she used to know that. Lately she wasn't so sure.

As she was thinking this, she headed up the stairs in the general direction of the common room. Most of the halls were eerily empty. The kind of emptiness where you don't really have to think about where you're walking, or whether you'll bump into anyone, you just know that you-

While thinking this, she slammed into someone's chest.

Not just anyone; James.

She looked up, and mentally glared at him. She was about to match her brain with her eyes, before she saw his face.

Something was wrong. It was so clear to her. His eyes weren't as alive as they always were, his hair was more messed up than usual as if he'd ran his hands through it and he just generally didn't look alright. And she couldn't be mad at him, somehow, when he wasn't alright. He seemed too vulnerable.

Her anger seemed to evaporate, taking some of her self-sympathetic attitude with it.

"James, are you okay?"  
He shrugged, avoiding her eyes.

She raised her eyebrows at him, knowing that he clearly had more on his mind and he was just acting tough. Just like he always did.

"James?"  
"No, not really." He sighed, shaking his head. "Louisa and I... I think we broke up." His face seemed to crumple for a second, as if he was going to cry, but then he pulled himself together so quickly Lily wondered if she'd imagined it.

She just blinked back. "You broke up? Why?"  
"It's complicated."  
Lily didn't really see how it could be; they seemed so perfect and happy; exactly like Lily hoped to be someday.

"I- I'm sorry."  
"Don't be. It's not your fault." He sighed. "It's all mine."

"It can't _all_ be your fault!" she replied, honestly.

"Believe me, it can."

Without saying anything else, she put her arms around his waist. He just seemed to need a hug, and it didn't matter that she had to stand on her tiptoes a little.

It was like when they were little, and James had cried about not wanting to go to Hogwarts. 7 year old Lily had sat and hugged 11 year old James for hours, repeatedly telling him how lucky he was and that he'd love it. She hadn't been the one who was looking after him since then; it had always been the other way around.

James had always been the one to look after everyone since he'd been 11. That can't have been easy, Lily realised.

She sighed; for the first time in a long while she saw him as her brother, and not just some idiot who liked ruining her life.

He could've been crying while she hugged him, Lily realised. She could hear his shaky breaths echoing around the corridor and felt his hand move off her back and towards his face. She didn't look up to check though, since he wouldn't want her to.

"I'm sorry, Lily." He said quietly.

Lily nodded, and leant away from her brother.

Yep, he had been crying. She didn't let him know she knew, but she'd lived with him for 14 years; she knew when he'd been crying at least.

"It's ok." That was a lie, and he seemed to know it.

"Lily, do you think I control you?"

This one, she felt, required an honest reply; he wouldn't have asked it if he didn't want an answer.  
"Yes." His face fell. "But only because you care. I mean, maybe you care a little too much but-"  
"I don't scare you, do I?"

She shook her head. "James, I've seen you screaming at a _picture _of a snake; I'll never be scared of you. The others though? I don't know. I don't think it's fear, maybe it's just intimidation?"

He nodded, still not looking any happier.  
"You scared Jake," She told him quietly. "If that makes you feel better." She wasn't sure why she'd said it, but she just wanted him to know for whatever reason.  
"Lily of course that doesn't make me feel better! You make me sound like a monster-"  
"Well, I don't know. You went kind of crazy." She laughed awkwardly, and he bit his lip.  
"Well what did you expect?"

"I don't know. No violence?"

He nodded. "I guess. Lily, I am sorry. I just don't want you getting hurt-"  
"You hurt me."

And once again, he looked as though he would cry. Lily really didn't have the cheering up skills that she used to.

"I know that now. I'm so sorry, Lily."

She nodded. "It's alright."

"I only want you to be happy."  
"I was. Before."

He nodded again, then pulled her towards him and hugged her in the way only he could. This was why she loved her big brother; she never felt as safe as she did with his arms around her shoulders.

The moment was ruined, however, when they both realised they were in the middle of a school corridor and not in James' poster-covered bedroom. They cleared their throats and separated from each other, before beginning to walk towards the common room.

"So, what happened with you and Jake? Still going out behind my back?" He asked jokily, yet Lily could swear he also seemed a little hopeful.

"No. He was too... he was too scared of you."  
"Sorry."  
"Stop saying that."  
He sighed. "Well, if he ever gets his head screwed back on, and realises what he's given up, I might be ok with you. Maybe."  
"Really?" She asked disbelievingly as they headed up the stairs.  
"Yeah. I mean, our Dad's a year older than Mum. In fact, Jake's exactly like our Dad, falling for his best friend's younger relative."  
Lily laughed. "Yeah, I guess." She hadn't seen it like that before. It was quite cool that she had at least one similarity with her Mum.

They walked in silence for the rest of the way to the common room, before James said the password to the fat lady and the portrait hole was revealed.

"I look alright, yeah?" James asked her.

"You look fine." She smiled. "And James? I'm sorry about Louisa."  
He smiled sadly. "Thanks Lils, I'm sorry about Jake. If he really makes you happy then I hope it works out."  
She nodded, then climbed through the portrait hole. Then they both, without saying anything else to each other, walked in their own directions. James practically ran up the stairs to his dorm, and Lily started to move towards her own staircase until she heard her name from behind her.

She turned to see Louis walking towards her.

"Lily."

"What?" she asked back, impatiently. She still hadn't forgiven him for being a complete pain this morning.

"Look, what did you say to Jake? Because I walked into our room and he was a mess."  
Lily stared back at him, before collecting herself a little and reminding herself who she was talking to. "What do you care? What was it you said? You don't _'keep friendships with guys who go out with your cousins_'?"

"Look, Lily what did you do?"  
"Why do you care?" she repeated slowly.

"Because... because he's my friend. Somehow."

She smiled at him a little. She would never have forgiven herself if Louis and Jake were never friends again because of her; they had been friends for as long as she could remember.

"And he's really hurting, Lily. What happened?"  
"We broke up. He's too scared of James. And then he said that we never should've started because it was always going to mess everything up."  
Louis blinked, then his attitude seemed to change. "I'll kill him."

"What?"  
"He broke up with you! I'll bloody kill him!"

He was yelling now. Great; why couldn't any of the men in Lily's family act normally for more than a few seconds?

"But you wanted us to break up!"  
"No, I wanted you to break up with him; he's not allowed to hurt you!"

Lily sighed, considering how insane this was. She wished she was just up in her dorm right now, curled up in her pyjamas.

While thinking this, she missed Louis turning and storming up his dorm stairs.

"Where's he going?" Dom yelled at Lily from the sofas, standing up. The room seemed to have gone quiet from the second Louis had begun to shout, and the few members of Rose's family that were around looked at her worriedly, while everyone else watched nosily.  
"I... I'll sort it." Lily replied before beginning to run up the stairs behind Louis. "What are you doing?" she shouted.

"I told you, I'll kill him!"  
"Oh for the love of..."  
She followed him all the way up the stairs, to his and Jake's dorm on the top floor. Out of breath, she threw herself through the door he had slammed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Louis was shouting at Jake.

She followed Louis' eyeline to see Jake in the exact same place he had been before; except now he looked like he'd been crying. It was awful, but Lily was weirdly glad to know that he'd cried too.

"What do you mean?" he asked, tiredly.

"I mean, what do you think you're doing breaking up with my cousin?"  
"I thought you wanted me to!"  
"Er, no. I wanted her to break up with you!"  
Jake nodded, as if he'd known he'd say this. "Well, in case you didn't realise; I'm not glad I broke up with her."  
"Well no, obviously-"  
"You're not?" Lily interrupted Louis, and both boys turned and seemed to realise she was there.

"Of course not, Lils." He replied, quietly. He stood up tiredly, and walked in her direction a little. "I'm sorry for what I said."

Lily took a step or two towards him, shaking her head. "It's ok."  
"Really?"  
"Well, no but-"  
"I didn't mean it."

She smiled a little, shuffling towards him again.

"You should know that you come in front of everyone else. I don't care what anyone thinks."

She smiled, and then he seemed to give up resisting, and put his arms around her. She felt her heart beating in her chest so fast that she thought it may explode. She forgot about where they were, and imagined themselves back on top of the cliff, with the rest of the world ridiculously far away.

That was until-

"Ahem!" Louis cleared his throat impatiently, and Lily felt Jake's arms move away from her.

"Look, James said we were ok. I'm betting you agree now." Lily sarcastically told Louis.

"James really said that?" Jake asked.

"Yeah. I told him you make me happy and he said that he'd be alright with us. In fact, he said he hoped things worked out so..."  
"This is things working out." He smiled, before bending down and kissing her.

Again, Louis cleared his throat.

"James said it was ok!" Lily told him impatiently.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I do!"  
"Oh really?" Lily raised her eyebrows, and Louis glanced between her and Jake a few times.

"Fine." He sighed. "Fine, fine. My best friend can go out with my cousin! For Merlin's sake; me and Al could make a club!"  
He stomped out of the dorm, slamming the door again.

Lily laughed at him to herself, then turned back to Jake.

"I missed you." She said quietly.

"I'm never letting you go again."

She'd never wished anything was truer.


	30. Lost Control

Hello, how is everyone? I'm really happy today... that's weird. :L My friend and I have written an exam paper for our Harry Potter GCSE. :L Yep, that's how I spend my time.

Thankyou for the reviews, please keep them coming!

I really like this chapter. I think. You'll have to tell me your thoughts. :L

_**Disclaimer: **__Unfortunately I still don't have the copyright to Harry Potter. It's all JK Rowling's!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty- Lost Control)**

Rose calmly finished her last essay of the weekend and placed her quill down on the table.

"You're finished already?" Al asked, raising his eyebrows. "That means you beat-"  
"I just finished!" Scorp whined. "I was just checking the spelling was right!"  
"Only losers spell check." Rose teased, reaching over and messing up Scorp's hair.

The contact with him meant they smiled at each knowingly for a second.

"Right, so now what are you two going to do?"  
Rose raised her eyebrows at Scorp, and he nodded a little.

"We're going to research into those plants Professor Longbottom said we'd be looking at next week." He said, seamlessly. You couldn't even tell it'd been rehearsed.

"You're such geeks." Al whined. "Spending your Saturdays in the library...What am I meant to do?"  
"Finish your essays? Hang out with Maddie?" Scorpius suggested.

Al laughed. "No thanks."

"Why, what's wrong with her?"  
"We've just not really talked much since New Years' Day."  
"Seriously? It's been ten days! Al you have to-"  
"Don't tell me I have to talk to her. I can't. Seriously I can't. First she reveals she's had sex, then I make her cry; it's safe to say we're over."  
Rose bit her lip. "Al, you don't think it could be you that she slept w-"  
"No. It wasn't me. I'd know if it was, wouldn't I? You can't just lose your virginity and not know about it."

Rose nodded, glancing at Scorp again.

"Just, talk to her, Al. It'll work out." Scorp told Al, deliberately not quite meeting Rose's eyes.  
"I'd rather stay here and do essays, thanks."  
"Al, she wants to talk to you."  
"You've spoken to her?" He asked hopefully.  
"Well, no. Not really, you know Maddie; she doesn't really talk much but I think she wants you to talk to her; she's been even quieter than normal."  
Al shrugged. "If she wants to talk to me she can find me."  
"Al, why should she? You made her cry! You're the one in the wrong-"  
"You're my best friend and my cousin; you're meant to be on my side, Rose. She slept with someone and didn't think to tell me!"

"You hadn't been going out for long." Rose replied simply.

"Whatever." Al picked his quill up again. "Have fun in the library."  
Rose took this as being told to get lost, so she and Scorp stood up without a word and headed out of the common room, leaving Al sat on his own.

Once outside they didn't go in the direction of the common room. They headed towards an entirely different room, their hands clasped together.

Minutes later, they were stood in the room of requirement, masquerading as the common room from Christmas Eve.

Suddenly, Rose wasn't sure what to say; she was just sure of what to do.

She walked forwards a little and kissed him.

"Love you." She said simply.

He smiled, and sighed "you too" before bending down and kissing her again.

She responded passionately, running her hands up his back and through his hair, messing it up more than she had earlier. His hands ran down her back, and she felt the blood pump through her veins furiously.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asked her, breathing a little heavily.

She nodded, taking his hand and walking him towards the sofa in the common room. She was about to sit down, but it felt wrong doing anything on James' seat on the sofa. Instead, she smiled and led him up to her dorm. Weirdly, although they could've easily been up there in the Room Of Requirement, they'd still never been in her room together.

When they reached her tidy room on the second floor, he looked around it for a second. She loved the slight look of awe on his face, and turned and kissed him again. She felt him move her backwards, until they fell onto her bed. Her shoes fell off her feet, and she felt his legs move as he kicked his own off. The skin of their bare feet came into contact again and Rose shuddered a little.

"You sure you're, you know, ready?"  
"You mean safe?" He nodded. "I'm sure." Rose replied, before moving her hands down his neck towards his shirt buttons.

She was shaking more than she realised, and found undoing the buttons pretty difficult. She managed it though, and he leant back and shrugged the shirt off his shoulders.

She sat up towards him and felt his heavy breaths on her neck. She glanced down at his bare chest and smiled a little to herself; how she'd ever managed to get someone as beautiful as him she'd never know.

Nerves suddenly hit her, unexpectedly. Thoughts of her inadequacy swamped her mind and rid it of any other logical thinking.

She was in no way good enough for him; he was so perfect in every way, and Rose wasn't.

He must've known what she was thinking somehow, because he sighed a little. "When are you going to listen to me? You're beautiful Rose."

She nodded, biting her lip and not quite believing him.

"Trust me." He said quietly.

"I do trust you." She replied honestly. She traced the curves of his muscles with her hand, before reaching down and pulling her shirt over her head as if to prove it.

She looked away nervously, out of the window where the snow was falling. She heard him gasp a little, then she felt his hand on her cheek, turning her head back to look at him.

"You are beautiful."

His grey eyes were so honest, that Rose found herself believing him.

"I love you." He told her.

"I love you too." She replied.

"You're perfect. Better than anything I ever dreamed I'd have."  
She smiled, then kissed him again.

Nothing could happen now that she didn't want with every little piece of her heart.

...

James watched as the little dot marked Louisa moved from her bedroom into the part of the dorm she shared with Roxy and Craig, then back. He'd done it for hours now, since he'd woken up at some ridiculous hour in the morning.

He wasn't hungry, despite the fact he hadn't eaten since last night.

He wasn't tired, although he hadn't slept properly all night.

He wasn't _anything._ He just felt numb. Empty.

He hadn't said a word to anyone since Lily yesterday, just locked himself away in his dorm with the drapes around his bed. Fred knew him well though, and hadn't tried to talk to him; he'd asked if he wanted some food, but that was all.

James knew he was being crazy, just watching some ink moving across a piece of parchment even though he knew it didn't bring him any closer to her; they were still just as broken up as they had been last night.

He forced his eyes to move from that part of the page, and decided to look for his family.

Fred, Anna, Roxy, Dom and Craig were in the library; pretty easy to find. After searching for a second he found Lily with Jake, Louis, Hugo and some other kids out in the courtyard. He wasn't surprised about Lily and Jake; in fact he was a little pleased knowing that she might be happy.

He moved his eyes along the map, and found Al in the common room. On his own. Without...

Suddenly his eyes began darting furiously along the page, looking for Rose.

She wasn't anywhere. But she couldn't not be in the school, could she?

Wherever she was, she was with him. And they could be...

Anger hit him like a wave, and he launched himself off his bed towards his truck and grabbed a quill.

_Help me find Rose Weasley _he scribbled at the side of the map. It had worked millions of times before; the map was pretty useful like that.

The ink faded into the page, and was then replaced by other writing.

_Moony apologises, but is unable to find this person on school premises._

James glared at the paper; he really was going insane. _What do you mean you can't find her? Where could she be?_

Again, James' writing faded and was replaced with someone else's messy scrawl.

_Padfoot suggests she may have snuck away from school. Or be in some part of the school which is __Unplottable._

Unplottable. Where in the school was unplot-

The Room Of Requiremment.

"Mischief managed!" James yelled before throwing the now blank map into his trunk and pulling a jumper over his head.

He ran down the stairs, speeding through the common room without a word despite the fact Al yelled after him and he almost knocked a first year over.

He ran at this pace all the way to the third floor corridor, his heart beating ridiculously fast. His body hadn't been prepared for this exercise; he'd been curled up in bed not ten minutes ago. He saw people looking at him wide-eyed as he ran past; he was only in his pyjama bottoms and some jumper, after all.

He reached the empty wall, and ran along the edge of it.

He'd been here before; it was his and Fred's alcohol hiding place, so he knew what he was meant to do.

"I need to see wherever Rose Weasley's hiding. I need to see wherever Rose is doing god-knows-what with Malfoy! I swear to God, if I don't see where the hell they are I'm going to kick the bloody wall down!"

A small door appeared, with a _Do Not Disturb _sign on it, which just wound him up further. He grabbed the sign and yanked it off the door, before throwing himself through it. He screwed the sign up with one hand and dropped it to the floor before looking up.

He was thrown by the sight of the common room, wondering if Rose and Scorpius (being the geniuses they were) had managed to make the room trick him. Then he noticed it was dark outside, and it was completely empty, and the fire was burning furiously and the-

There was mistletoe on the fireplace; Fred's enchanted mistletoe. Had he somehow gone back in time in this room?

He got over his confusion when he heard giggling from up the girls stairs. Then he was focused again.

He ran again, straight to the stairs. He wasn't stopped like he expected, and was able to actually go up the girls' stairs.

Refusing to let this miracle distract him, he skipped the steps until he was at the first floor, next to a door. He opened it, and saw an empty dorm. Without even stopping for a second, he continued up the next flight of stairs.

Laughing echoed down the stairs again as he ran, from the other side of the door on the second floor. The blood pumped through his veins so fast he felt himself lose control and slam into the wooden door to the other side.

He barely registered what he saw, instead he just stormed forward and pulled the boy off his cousin, then threw him on the ground. At this point, he thanked god that the boy was only shirtless, and a glance at Rose told him that she was in the same clothing.

Rose literally screamed, after a second of shock.

James didn't turn around, instead he bent down over Scorpius.

There was no time for magic; no magic could legally do the damage he was imagining. James' fists could.

He didn't know how many times his fists sunk into some part of Scorpius' face or neck or chest. He didn't know how many times Rose screamed.

He didn't know anything and he didn't think about anything. He didn't think about the breakup, or Lily, or how this was exactly what Louisa had been talking about, or what his Dad would say, or what any of his family would say… He forgot it all. He forgot who he was.

Until he felt himself being launched backwards into the wall behind him, and then found he was unable to move. His eyes took themselves to Rose, brandishing her wand and crying hysterically, running to Scorpius who was heaped against the wall, seemingly unconscious.

Then he remembered who he was; he wasn't this monster.


	31. When It All Falls Apart

Guys I'm so sorry for making you wait so long. I swear I'll never do it again! To be fair though, I have a good excuse. As I told some of my reviewers, I have shingles and am quarantined from apparent civilisation. I missed my last ever day of school *sniff* but still, the world goes on. It's update time!

Just want to quickly thank my anonymous reviewers (_rita, magicmango, shanii21_ and _meg_) and all my other reviewers (hope I didn't miss any of you out!), favouriters and alerters! It means loads to me.

Please keep reviewing, and I hope that this chapter lives up to the wait (although I doubt it...)

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own the rights to Harry Potter or any affiliated characters. I'm just not that smart. :L

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty One- When It All Falls Apart)**

The day had been _perfect. _Perfect in every sense of the word. From stupid little things like perfect meals, to perfect big things like being able to walk around with Jake without hiding, without feeling ashamed, or like it was wrong somehow. Without weird looks... Ok, there had been some weird looks. Many in fact. But Lily liked that she was getting weird looks because she was happy, and not just because she was a Potter.

They'd spent the whole day outside, sometimes with Louis and everyone, but other times just the two of them on their own. Perfection.

After dinner, instead of going back to the common with the others to see the rest of the family, she and Jake just left outside again, and sat by the lake together.

Even when it got colder, and they had to head inside, Jake had taken off his jacket to make sure she didn't get too cold.

He was perfect.

"You're looking at me weird." He smiled after saying the password and allowing the portrait hole to open in front of him.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about today. It's been amazing."  
She climbed into the common room, and turned as he followed her.

He shrugged. "Well that's because you're amazing, isn't it?"

She smiled and kissed him; she could now. They were officially allowed to be together, after all.

Nothing could ruin today, she was sure. That was, until she turned around.

She instantly knew something was wrong. Roxy, Hugo, Louis, Anna, Fred, Dom, Craig and Al all looked ridiculously angry. And Al was on his own on the sofa he normally shared with Rose and Scorpius. But these things weren't what told her something was wrong.

Fred was sat in James' seat.

"What's going on?" she asked, walking towards them worriedly. Jake still had hold of her hand, so practically got dragged along.

"Your brother." Fred began.  
"And my sister." Hugo finished.

"Why, what's happened?" Lily asked, sitting down on the arm rest of a sofa.

"They're both _idiots._"

Lily raised her eyebrows. James was an idiot, sure, but Rose?  
"Why what have they-?"  
"Don't get him started again!" Louis interrupted.

But apparently it was too late, as Fred sat up in his seat and uncrossed his arms.

"What have they done? One of them's broken his girlfriend's heart, and beaten Scorpius to pieces, and the other one was going have sex with a Malfoy!"

Lily nodded, hoping she had correctly identified who was who.

"As if she was going to sleep with him!" Dom complained. "Who doesn't talk to family about this-"  
"She talked to Louisa." Roxy shrugged, earning glares from Al which Lily guessed was for defending her.

"Yeah, and forced her to lie to us!" Fred added.

"Wait, so Louisa knew that-?"  
"Why do you think she and James broke up?" Hugo asked, as if Lily was stupid.

"All she was doing was trying to help, bless her. And that ass just dumps her-"  
"He dumped her?" Lily asked. "But he was so upset about it last night. He was crying and he-"  
"Well he dumped her, Lily." Fred told her, as the rest of the family barely acknowledged that Lily had just confessed that her brother cried yesterday. "And she's heartbroken."

A weird silence fell over them, and Lily tried desperately to process everything before someone else spoke-

"I can't believe James did that to Scorpius though." Craig sighed, his arm still over Roxy's shoulder.  
"You can't believe it? Why not, you know what he did to you-" Roxy began.  
"He didn't beat me up though, did he? I knew he was angry but I didn't think he'd hit anyone-"  
"Well, yeah but Rose fixed him up ok." Fred glared at Dom, and she quickly continued "Not that I'm defending him or anything."

"Why what did he do?" Jake asked.

"He beat up Scorpius. Who beats people up any more?" Al asked angrily.

"Why did he-"  
"They were in bed together, apparently."

Lily nodded, then sighed. "How do you know all of this?"  
Roxy shrugged. "Louisa and Maddie mostly."  
"Where is Ros-"  
"Who cares? She was going to sleep with Scorpius, and didn't tell us." Al huffed.

"And Ja-"  
"In my room." Fred groaned. "But he better get out of there if he doesn't want to get beaten up like Scorpius did."

"Wait. So you're mad at James for being mad at Louisa, because she helped Rose and Scorpius. But you're not mad at Louisa for that, despite the fact you're mad at Rose?"

Lily looked at Jake confusedly, realising that her summary sounded ridiculous. No family could possibly be that hypocritical and childish-

"Exactly." Al huffed.

Lily sighed, leaning back on the sofa.

Perfection seemed to have it's imperfections; namely her family.

...

Al was almost unable to breathe, he was so angry.

His best friend was going to have sex with his cousin. The boy who had been his dorm mate, team mate and practical brother, was going to sleep with Al's younger cousin.

And his brother had known! He'd known for at least a day, and he hadn't thought to tell Al._ "By the way Al, when they say they're going to be geeks in the library, they're actually going to have sex. Just so you know." _That was all it would take.

He growled under his breath, and then looked up to see his family looking similarly angry.

Of course they were, though. Roxy and Dom's cousin had broken their best friend's heart, and they'd been considered untrustworthy by their other cousin. Fred hadn't been told what was going on by his best friend, and his cousins were generally being idiots. Hugo's sister was going to sleep with a Malfoy, and Louis was... well, he was just angry because everyone else was angry.

Lily was the only one who didn't seem upset; she just seemed confused. Then again, Al reasoned, she was probably too distracted by Jake to really care about anything else... Al hadn't even begun to get his head around Lily and Jake.

Fred was still ranting about James; he and the rest of them seemed to be listing everywhere James went wrong. Al was just sat, stewing. _His stupid best friend was sleeping with his cousin!_

He was looking straight ahead, his eye line completely steady until Scorpius and Rose came inside. Al clenched his fists and grunted again.

Then Rose walked towards them, towing Scorpius along.

"Hi." She said awkwardly.

Dom around to face her. "What do you want?"

Rose looked at her confusedly. "I... Just... Hi?"  
"You know you broke up James and Louisa don't you?" Roxy asked her angrily.

"I... what?" Rose's face seemed to fall. "Is- Is Lou ok?"  
"No. And it's your fault." Dom said simply.  
It was weird to see Roxy and Dom this angry. It really did show how close Louisa, Roxy, Dom and Anna were.

"Dom, that's not fair-" Lily tried to interrupt.

"You know what, no, it's not Rose's fault." Fred sighed. "It's his." He signalled to Scorpius, who looked ridiculously scared.

"What? No it's not! How is it-?" Rose began.  
"How is it not his fault? If you two hadn't got together then Lou and James'd still be together-"  
"No! I-" Rose began to reply, but Scorpius seemed to pull on her arm, and she span around, stopping midsentence. He said something Al couldn't quite hear and she shook her head. Then he shrugged and headed upstairs.

That just made Al angrier; now he was leaving her to fight for herself.

"I thought you'd be on our side! James beat Scorp up; he was barbaric!"

"We're not on _his _side." Fred replied angrily. "But we're not on yours."  
"Why not? What did I do?"  
Al laughed a little.

"What, Al? What am I meant to have done?" Rose asked, tiredly, turning and narrowing her eyes at him.

Al stood up. "You were meant to talk to your family. You weren't meant to force someone to lie to my brother. And you weren't meant to sleep with my best friend." He said it surprisingly calmly, while inside his blood was practically boiling.

"He's my boyfriend!"

Al nodded angrily, then began to walk towards the stairs.

"Al, there is no point going to your dorm. Scorpius is in there, and you don't want to be with the guy you're mad at right now." Fred said, grabbing his arm.

"There's every point." Al replied angrily. He left up the stairs, and heard footsteps behind him. "I swear to God, Rose, don't you dare follow me!" he shouted as he stomped, without needing to check who was behind him.

"You're going to yell at my boyfriend; of course I'm coming-!"  
"He was my best friend before he was your boyfriend!" Al yelled, turning at yelling at her down the stairs. She looked up at him, and then her expression changed somehow; she suddenly looked sad instead of angry or weak instead of defensive.

"Al, I love him. Nothing's changed-"  
"Yes, it has." He replied, not caring that tears were springing to her eyes. "He was going to sleep with you; everything's changed."

She didn't reply this time, she didn't look like she could without crying properly.

He didn't bother to stay; he just turned and continued up the stairs and through his door, leaving it wide open.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted the second he saw Scorpius, who was sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands.

He looked up tiredly. "I'm sorry, mate. You weren't meant to find out like tha-"  
"Mate! You're not my mate! Mates don't sleep with their friend's cousins!"

Scorpius shook his head disbelievingly, and stood up slowly. "You didn't have a problem with me and Rose before."  
"You weren't sleeping with her before!"

"We didn't do anything!" Scorpius shouted back, any calmness he had before having evaporated.

"That's not the point! You were going to and you didn't tell me! You didn't-"  
"Oh yeah. _'Sure Al, you can copy my essay; by the way I'm thinking of having sex with your cousin, want all the details?"_ How was I meant to talk to you? You would have hit me if I did!"

"That's not true!" Al yelled, angry that he was being accused of being a bad friend now.

"Of course it is. There was no one we could talk to; you don't understand-!"

"Sorry, I forgot; the whole world's terrible for Scorpius Malfoy! Screwing your best friend's cousin and in with the entire Weasley-Potter clan despite the fact your Dad tried to murder them all! Things seem so bad for you; how can I possibly understand!" The words slipped out of his mouth, and for a second he regretted them, until Scorpius gave as good as he got.

"Yeah, and life's bloody perfect for Al Potter. It's all there, right on a silver platter. The surname's all you need!"

Al stepped towards him. "I hope my brother hit you hard enough." he threatened.

"Why, you going to check he did the job properly? There's no point, Rose will just fix me up again." Scorpius replied, raising his eyebrows daringly.

"Yeah. 'Cause that's the only reason you're with her; she fixes everything up nicely doesn't she? Her surname cancels yours out perfectly!"

Scorpius glared, but before he had chance to reply Al spoke again.

"But what will Daddy Death Eater say when he hears what you've been up to with a _bloodtraitor_, eh?"

"What?"  
"Well that's what they used to call us; the Weasleys and the Potters."  
"Oh shut up Al, the entire world doesn't revolve around your family!" Scorpius stepped towards him again, so their faces were practically level.  
"Well actually your Dad owes his life to my Dad. So, your life actually is down to us Potters!"

"Yeah? Well let's look out of the window at the war monument and see all the people who are dead down to _'the great Harry Potter'_ while he went off camping!"

They glared at each other, Al trying to think of a comeback. Instead he gave up, and shoved his friend in the chest.

Scorpius shoved him back, possibly harder, which just made him angrier. He grabbed Scorpius' collar and shoved him into the wall behind, knocking posters and books from the shelves they had sat on for years with a crash.

He considered hitting him. He really did. His best friend of 6 years, and he considered punching him in the face.

"What, you going to be just like your brother?" Scorpius said quietly. "Stop hiding in your Dad's shadow and move into James'? Hit me then."

Al raised his arm. Right now, he really badly wanted to break Scorpius' nose into pieces.

"Al stop it!" Fred was suddenly in the door way, and grabbed Al's hand and pulled him away. "He's not worth it.

"Stay out of my life." Al hissed at Scorpius as he was dragged out of his own room. "And don't go near my family."


	32. Things Should Be Different

Yayy, guess who's all better… Touchwood. But being quarantined bought two good things; I could write a lot, and secondly I watched every HP movie.

Anyway, Hello! Thankyou so much for all the reviews and alerts and favourites, as always they mean a lot to me. I've PMed all my reviewers (hopefully I haven't missed any of you out!) but I also have to say a quick thanks to the anonymous ones: _The Chosen One, missielissie, alemiapondiswow, aly, Dani and Little T-chan! _

As I told my reviewers, the chapters are a little depressing now, but they will get happier. Eventually. Everyone goes through complicated times in their lives; this is the Weasleys and Potters' complicated times. It can only get simpler.

In theory, my updates should now become less often, as I'm now in the midst of my Very Important Exams. Unfortunately, I seem to be writing more than ever. But yes, I'm just warning you all in advance that updates may be less frequent, I doubt it though!

Please keep reviewing. :) And alerting... or just generally reading.

This chapter is a bit of a filler, but I promise there is lots of action coming. Dum dum dum... :L

_**Disclaimer: **__Nothing's changed with my lack of illness; I still have no ownership of Harry Potter or the characters. Thought you ought to know (Quirrel HP1 style).

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Two- Things Should Be Different)**

When his blood had dripped from his head she felt as if the blood had vanished from her heart.

When he hadn't replied to her screams she felt as if she would never speak again.

When his eyes had closed lifelessly she felt as if she was dead.

And when she had turned and looked at James she felt as if she could kill.

Tears in his own eyes, he hadn't replied when she'd screamed manically at him. Instead he'd just stared, nodding occasionally as if he agreed with her.

The second she flicked her wand he seemed to stumble out of the room wordlessly and she turned to look at Scorpius.

He had been hunched against the wall, his eyes closed and the blood dripping down through his hair.

She screamed silently, and bent down next to him, repeating his name fearfully.

It was as if she forgot everything; her past, her present, her future, her identity. She felt helpless; she forgot she was magical.

She had thought, once he was healed, everything would be alright again. God, she was naive. Of course Al would be angry, of course James, Louis, Hugo and Fred would be a bit annoyed; but Roxy, Dom and Lily? She thought they would understand.

She stared blankly at the ceiling of her dorm, wondering what the other girls were dreaming of. She couldn't even close her eyes; every time she did she saw Scorp's motionless body after James had attacked him. It didn't stay like this all night, though; Rose woke up in the morning, unsure of when she had actually gone to sleep.

Breakfast was the first thing she'd have to deal with today, first on a list of millions of problems she'd hit.

Silently, she headed down to the great hall. Rose barely registered that she was actually existing and not sleep walking, she was so exhausted.

Arriving in the hall, she began to walk towards her normal place in the middle of the Gryffindor table. Then she saw Dom looking at her and backtracked, sitting down on her own the furthest away she could get.

It was about ten minutes later that Rose felt Scorpius sit next to her.

"Hi." She heard from her side.

She nodded as a reply, turning and looking at him. He looked as tired as she felt.  
"Did you sleep at all last night?" he asked, looking at her in concern,

Shaking her head, she asked him the same question. "No. You?"

He sighed. "Al moved into Fred's, and I still couldn't sleep, even without his snoring."  
She smiled, and Scorp shook his head.

"He hates me." He sighed.

"He doesn't. Not really. It's just… he feels like he has to be mad for a while because everyone else is."

Scorp laughed a little under his breath. "How long is your entire family going to hate me for?"

Rose turned her head, and looked down the table where the majority of her family sat. They were silently eating, Fred occasionally turning his head to Rose or James who sat at the opposite end of the table, as if making sure they didn't dare to cause trouble.

She shrugged, turning back to Scorpius. "If there's one thing my family can do, they can hold grudges."

...

Lily was the first down to breakfast. While she sat in her normal place, James walked straight past her and sat at the other end of the table. After around ten minutes Fred, Anna, Al and Dom joined her, silently reaching for food or orange juice. It was as if they weren't really there; they were worse than the ghosts.

She glanced to her side to see Rose and Scorpius sitting at the other end of the table to James, both of them looking exhausted.

She sighed. This was all so pathetic. They were all meant to be older than her, but even she knew that this was ridiculously immature.

She thought this until the moment she saw Louisa.

Despite everyone else looking pretty tired, Louisa was by far the worst. She looked like she'd died; her eyes were sunken, her face was white and she looked even skinnier than normal.

That was her _brother's_ fault?

Louisa and Roxy sat down, and somehow Lily's family found the ability to talk from nowhere.

"How're you, Louisa?" Dom asked quietly, smiling a little.

She shrugged, then looked in the same direction as Fred was looking; at James' end of the table.

Suddenly she seemed to turn into a child, not that she had looked overly adult before. "I-I... I'll eat later, Roxy." She stuttered, before standing up and practically running out of the hall. Roxy chased after her, grabbing toast from her plate.

Without communicating with each other, the whole family turned and glared at James, even Lily.

She saw something different to the others though. They turned back to each other and began to discuss how "oblivious" he was to other people, but Lily didn't see that; he cared about other people, maybe too much. He seemed to be hurting just as much as they others and he looked so lonely down there.

"Morning." Lily heard a surprisingly cheerful voice, and turned to see Louis, with Jake by his side. Dom glared at him and Louis seemed to remember the situation and sat down silently.

Jake sat by Lily, and she felt his hand reach for hers under the table. Lily took it and sighed, reminding herself that one part of her life wasn't messed up.

Without saying a word, Lily's older cousins stood up and left, leaving half of their breakfasts and Lily, Louis and Jake alone.

"So..." Louis said awkwardly.

"What are they doing?" Lily said exasperatedly, watching as her cousins walked past Rose and Scorpius without saying anything.

"They're being Weasleys; they're being stubborn."

"But it's stupid! They're mad at James for beating up Scorpius and breaking up with Louisa. And they're mad at Rose and Scorpius for having sex but they're not mad at Louisa for helping them."  
Louis just looked back confusedly, and replied "They didn't."  
"Who didn't what?"

"Rose and Scorpius. They didn't do it."

"Yes, Louis, because that makes a difference." Jake replied sarcastically. Lily laughed for the first time all day.

She looked into Jake's eyes and her smile didn't go away.

"Ok, stop it!" Louis threw toast between the two of them, and Lily turned her head to him.

"Stop what?"  
"It's too early in the morning."  
"Too early for what?"  
"You two." He ate the last part of his breakfast and stood up. "Come and find me after midday. Then you're slightly more tolerable."

Jake and Lily just laughed.

"So, it seems to me we have the morning to ourselves." Jake smiled.

"That's true." Lily replied.

"So, what do you want to do?"  
"Get changed?" Lily laughed, pulling on her jumper. She looked like a complete scruff.

He shook his head. "You look beautiful."

Lily raised her eyebrows, and was about to reply when an owl appeared on the table next to them. Hedwig. Well, Hedwig III.

The owl impatiently dropped a letter from it's beak, and flew away again.

Lily turned, and picked up the letter from her plate.

_Kids _was all it said on the envelope.

Instantly, Lily panicked. She had always been the type to panic. Something was wrong, something had to be wrong; they wouldn't write otherwise.

She jumped up from her bench, and turned to her brother. She walked ridiculously quickly, shaking so much the paper crinkled in her hand.

She cleared her throat, and her brother turned to look at her. She gasped; he looked so tired and seemed to have aged in days; he looked like their Dad.

"What do you want, Lily?" he asked, irritatedly.

She looked back at him. He couldn't be mad at her; they were fine on Friday night.

"I... We got a letter from home."

He raised his eyebrows at her, before standing up so he towered over her.

"Go find Fred and tell him. Apparently I'm not a part of the family anymore."

"James I... You're my brother, of course you're family!"

Although she practically shouted it, he either didn't hear her or ignored her. He just walked past her and out of the hall, and she stared after him.

She heard whispers from the few people around her, gossiping about the "Potter fallout" instantly. Tears leapt to her eyes and her heart beat about four times faster, the feeling of helplessness surrounding her in whispers.

And then Jake was there. And he took her hand and pulled her down to sit at the table again, still holding her hand.

She sniffed.

"You alright?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No. They're all being pathetic, and he- he's my brother and..."  
"Shhh, I know." He put his arm around her and kissed her forehead, and she felt a little better. "Are we going to open this letter then?"  
She nodded feebly, and handed it to him. He took it and opened it slowly, then handed the enclosed parchment to her.

She unfolded it, and scanned the writing.

Relief washed over her, for a split second.

"It's just Mum saying hi. I thought... I don't know what I thought."

She had been panicking for nothing. Absolutely nothing. Classic Lily, right there.

Jake smiled, squeezing her hand. "Read it then."

_Hi kids! We're so so sorry that this has come so late! The men have been busy at the ministry and Hermione's been in London about some weird legislation and I... well I don't really have an excuse but I just haven't gotten round to it. Sorry. I hope the new year's ball was good fun for you all; it sounds similar to our Yule ball, and that wasn't too much fun for us (I went with Professor Longbottom!) but it's alright for you because you all seem coupled up! Hope Louisa's alright, James, we expect that she'll be visiting us in the Easter holidays. You are all coming back at Easter, no arguing; Christmas wasn't the same without you all around. As for Rose and Scorpius, I think I'm helping Ron get his head around it a little more every day; he might even get an invite for Easter too! And Al, who is this Maddie girl that Rose tells me about? Your father and I are intrigued. _

_Please keep behaving kids, Hermione'd kill me if I didn't at least mention your school work. Keep working, that'll do. And Fred; toilet seat! Chop chop!_

_Sorry the letter's so short, keep us informed as to how you're all doing. _

_We love you. _

_Mum. Or Aunt Ginny, to most of you. xxx_

She smiled. Her Mum's handwriting reminded her of home, and home would be a lovely place to be right now.

"They don't know about all the arguments and everything do they?" Jake asked.

"How could they? It only happened yesterday." Lily sighed, folding the paper up neatly and then absentmindedly running her fingernails along the crease.

Yesterday. Yesterday everything in her family had been so normal, even though it now seemed like some distant memory.

"Are you going to tell them?"  
Lily shook her head. "What difference would it make? They can't do anything. They need to sort this out for themselves."

The distance she felt for home was now replaced with a distance to her family.

For as long as they were this pathetic, she wasn't going to have a thing to do with them.


	33. Holding Nothing Back

Big thank you to the reviewers and alerters, as always. Also to _The Hobbit_, who's anonymous so I can't personally thank them!

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Harry Potter. Just a lot of revision books. :L

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Three- Holding Nothing Back)**

It had been almost two weeks. 13 days, 18 hours. 330 hours. God knows how many minutes. A ridiculous amount of seconds.

Almost two weeks since he'd broken up with Louisa. 13 days, 18 hours since he'd been happy. 330 hours since his heart hadn't hurt.

13 days since he'd last spoken to Fred. His best friend and cousin now wouldn't even look him in the eye.

The rest of his cousins were the same; they glared when he walked past and swore under their breath if he spoke.

Lily was the worst, though. She hadn't done anything, she hadn't gotten involved. She wasn't part of any of it; she wasn't sitting with any of them. It was just her and Jake, removed from the rest of the family. It was like she didn't care that everything was falling apart around them.

For the fourteenth day, James sat at the far end of the dining table; alone.

The gossip had gone round a little now; rumours mostly. Some tame (James had apparently broken up with Louisa over a defence against the dark arts test), some far more extreme (James had apparently attempted to use the Cruciatus curse on Scorpius when he heard that Rose was pregnant). James couldn't help but not really care about the rumours; all he wanted was his family. He just sat on his own and stared at his family, staring up at them when they thought he wasn't watching.

Lily and Jake had now separated from the rest of them, and were sat comfortably alone in the distance between James and the others. Fred, Anna, Roxy, Craig, Dom, Al, Louis and Hugo were sat where James had sat since first year, and they were laughing about something James couldn't lip-read.

And then, at the end, was Rose. Rose and Scorpius.

They looked happy. They were just sat laughing, oblivious to everything they'd done. It was all their fault that everything had fallen apart. It was all _his _fault. If _he_ wasn't with James' cousin then they would never have asked Louisa for help, Louisa would never have had to have lied, and everything would be as perfect as it was before. There would be no breakup and there would be no punching; James would be sat in his seat in the common room, with one arm around Louisa, laughing and joking with his family.

James had spent two weeks hating Scorpius for what he'd done to his family, and it felt like it would never go away. Every time he looked at the blonde boy his fists would clench, his eyes would narrow and he could feel his blood throbbing through his body.

Every time he saw Scorpius, he turned into some uncontrollable monster.

And for two weeks, the monster had stayed completely tame. Today James didn't have the strength to fight it away.

So when he left the dining hall to see Scorpius and Rose leaning against the wall and looking all romantic in the corridor, James let the monster take control.

"Thought I told you to stay away from her, Malfoy." He spat, striding past the few other pupils towards them.

"Oh get lost, James." Rose glared, turning around and crossing her arms.

"Don't think I won't hit him again." He threatened.  
"And don't think I won't go to McGonagall this time."  
"Yeah?" James asked, raising his eyebrows. "And why didn't you last time?"

She didn't reply. She stuttered for a second and James laughed a little sadistically.

"Because you know that even our saintly head teacher would choose a Potter who was trying to protect his cousin over a Malfoy who was trying to screw a Weasley."

Rose's mouth fell open. "It's got nothing to do with our surnames James!"

"It does when one of us saved the world and the other tried to ruin it."  
"That was our parents James; don't be so pathetic!" Rose yelled, a little hysterically. She turned, and started to walk away.

"Can't defend your death eater boyfriend this time can you?" James shouted after her.

"Don't call him that!" James span around to see the rest of his family stood in the door of the hall, Al at the front looking furious.

"Wow, Al, quick change of sides there! Real backbone! Besides, don't pretend it's not true. His family tortured our Aunt in the house he's grown up in." James replied at his little brother.

"You can't use what our parents did against everyone, James!" Al yelled, walking towards Rose and Scorpius.

"You hypocrite Al, you were calling him a blood traitor two weeks ago!" Rose shouted, seemingly having changed her mind on leaving.

"Yeah, well, I didn't mean it." Al turned, still talking loudly but also shrugging apologetically at the same time.  
"Oh you didn't _mean _it! That makes it alright!"  
"Hey, he said stuff he didn't mean too!"  
"Oh yeah," James asked. "Like what?"  
"Like that Uncle Harry was responsible for people's deaths." Roxy said, walking forward and glaring at Scorpius.

"You said what?" James yelled, launching himself forward towards Scorpius with his fists raised as the boy backed against the wall.

Fred blocked him, putting his hand out simply. "Woah there. We all know what happens when you get angry. You turn to muggle methods; your fists."  
"Yeah, well at least I do something. If it was up to you they'd all be there getting each other pregnant! I bet you wouldn't mind if Lily was having sex too-"

"That's ridiculous, James. Just because I don't nearly kill every person who goes near the girls-!"  
"You used to!"  
"Yeah, well maybe he's grown up." Dom told James. "You should try it some time."  
"How can he when he's still a virgin?" Fred asked, daringly. James' fists clenched again, but he turned his head to see that there was now a large crowd watching the argument, practically forming a silent circle around the family. He couldn't hit but he wasn't going to let it go.

Before he had a chance to reply, Dom spoke, laughing horribly. "Maybe that's the reason you got so angry; even your little cousins are having sex before you are!"  
"Just because I don't sleep with anything that moves-!"  
"Yeah, because you were waiting for 'the right girl'-"  
"But then you dumped her." Louis concluded, standing next to his sister defensively. "Well done James, ten relationship points to you!"

"At least I've been in a relationship that's lasted longer than one drunken night!" James yelled at his blonde cousins. "Just because your mother's only good for one thing doesn't mean you both have to follow in her footsteps!"  
"What did you just say about my Mum?" Louis asked, reaching for his wand.

"James that's horrible!" Rose yelled, which Al nodded in agreement with. James felt increasingly isolated.

"I can't believe you're bringing our parents into this!" Roxy said, exasperatedly.

"Especially considering that your parents are the most messed up of them all!" Dom yelled angrily, waving her hand at Louis so he put his wand away. "Wait... no yeah, it was your Dad who dumped your Mum to save the world, wasn't it? And then just got lucky because she fell straight back into his arms after he left her for a year!"  
"Are you seriously starting on my Dad?" Al yelled, turning on Dom.

"If your brother is going to insult my mother then I'm going to insult yours! Just because he's Harry Potter doesn't make him-!"  
"His name doesn't make a difference!" Rose yelled. "Whether you're Potters or we're Weasleys or Scorpius is a Malfoy it doesn't _matter_!"

"Exactly." Craig said, nodding. "I've never understood why surnames are such a big deal in the magical world, they're just names-"  
"Stay out of this Craig." Fred said simply, turning to the brown haired boy and glaring a little. "You're nothing to do with this."

Craig turned to Roxanne, who just shook her head wordlessly.

"Wait, you're going to let him say that-?"  
"This is about family, Craig."  
"And I'm not part of it. After three years?"

Roxy stuttered, but kept her eye line steady with his.

He sighed angrily. "You Weasleys are more trouble than you're worth."

He stormed off, pushing his way through the crowd that was by now at least one hundred teenagers large.

"Oh well done, James, another relationship ruined thanks to you!" Dom shouted, turning back to James.

"How is that my fault?" James asked tiredly. "You're the one who started on my Dad! You can't blame everything on me you know-!"  
"Well most things are your fault!" Roxy shouted. "It's your fault that Rose and didn't talk to us and it's your fault that Lily isn't speaking to _any _of us. Louisa's upstairs crying and that's because of you and it's thanks to you that we're even here shouting at each other!"

"That's right, pin it all on the oldest!"

"No, pin it all on the controlling idiot! If you weren't around we'd all be fine!" Rose shouted.

"Yeah, and if your boyfriend's Dad got his way then none of us'd be around would we?"  
"Stop using the war against me!" Scorpius exclaimed, his voice low and calm in a ridiculously contrasting way to James' out of control family. "My Dad is not me. The same way you are not your father. Harry Potter wouldn't behave how you're behaving!"

"He has a point, J." Fred said, turning to James and raising his eyebrows boldly.

"My Father would do everything he could to protect his family. That's all I'm doing-!"  
"Not true!" Dom sang angrily, her hair falling from it's ponytail as she shook her head.

"You're controlling us because you like the control! It's not protection. Our parents, they were being protective! They were protecting the world in the w-" Roxanne began.  
"_'Our_!' Your Dad didn't even do anything in the war!" Al shouted, his cousins looking at him with shock instantly.  
"Excuse me?" Fred shouted, standing next to Roxy.

"I- I didn't mean that, I meant that-"

"Oh, come on Al, stand up for yourself! I didn't realise a radio station saved the world, Fred!" James said evilly. "Come on. Uncle Bill, he got attacked; Dad, Aunt Hermione and Ron, they went and physically killed Voldemort. Your Dad just lost an ear and-"  
"And lost his brother!"  
"I wondered when that'd come up." James said simply.

For a second he wondered what exactly he was doing as they stared back at him. It was the monster; it had taken over. He didn't mean what he was saying; his Uncle Fred and Uncle George had done so much in the war, George had lost so much. George had lost the most, out of everyone.

James knew this.

The Monster did not.

"What the hell does that mean?"  
"Things get bad and you play the _'Uncle Fred'_ card! You don't even need it because you are a literal recreation of him. You're not your own person, Fredster, you're just our dead Uncle reincarnated!"  
Fred stepped towards him. "Don't push me, James-"  
"What you going to do? Hit me? But I thought that was the muggle way?" he said daringly.

"Fred don't." Dom sighed. "If he wants to mess up his own life that's fine. But he's nothing to do with mine anymore."

She pushed through the silent crowd with Anna, Louis and Roxy following.

Fred stepped back a little, and Rose seemed to take his position in front of James.

"Do you reckon Uncle Harry'd be proud of you, James?" she asked. "Reckon that if you Dad knew what you just said that he'd pat you on the back and tell you war stories?" she shook her head, and tears were filling her eyes. "You're exactly the type of person our family fought to get rid of; people who are prejudice because of blood or surname or magical past. Yeah, I bet he'd be really proud; I know I am. Unlike you I don't care about surnames. I don't care about being a Weasley. I don't want to be one, if you're anything to do with us."

And then she walked away, Scorpius' arm around her shoulder as they pushed through the mass of people in a different direction to the others. Hugo seemed to follow silently.

With every person that left, James became more human. He felt the world _Sorry _burn the inside of his throat as if desperate to be screamed.

"I can't wait until the end of the year, J. Then I can forget you existed. We're not going to be part of a family you're in." Fred shook his head finally, and then ran through the crowd which seemed to part before him in the direction Dom and Anna had gone.

That just left Al.

He started to walk away, and then James found the ability to speak.

He thought an apology was going to come out of his mouth, but instead he said "You're a Potter not a Weasley. I'm your family, not them."  
"Yeah. Well right now I know which surname I'd rather have, if being a Potter means you're my brother."

And then he left.

And James was left on his own as the crowd suddenly gained the ability to talk and the roar of gossip filled his ears, as if they were analysing the latest England Quidditch match.

Completely human, he prayed the monster was dead. And he told himself that if it wasn't, he was going to do all he could to kill it.


	34. Facing The Consequences

Wow guys, thanks for the reviews! That's what I was hoping for! (Ps. Big thankyou to _PurpleMonkeyDishwashers_ who reviewed 15 times and made me laugh! And anonymous reviewers _James' fan_ and _Rita_)

Totally hit 400 reviews! Eep! Thankyou to all reviewers/readers/alerters/favouriters. I love you all.

Anyways, the drama is... not over. It's about to get a lot more interesting (prepare yourselves)! One final twist...

I'll update soon, I promise. Especially soon if I get that kind of response again!

_**Disclaimer: **__Nope, no Harry Potter rights here. Maybe try JK Rowling?

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Four- Facing The Consequences)**

This was messed up; everything was messed up. So messed up that Al was sat in the library; that was the level that Al had reached; he'd turned to the salvation of books.

Actually, that was a lie. He'd only come in here because he assumed it'd be empty this early on a Saturday; far away from all the gossiping kids.

Apparently not though, as it turned out Rose and Scorpius weren't the only freaks that spent their spare time in the library; he hadn't even managed to get a table on his own. Maddie was sat next to him.

She hadn't said anything, why would she? She wasn't the type to judge, she just looked at him silently for almost an hour.

"Have you done all your homework?" Al asked her tiredly, looking up and smiling.

She shook her head. "No. I just think there are more important things than homework right now."  
"Like what?"

She bit her lip. "Like telling you I'm here if you need me. And if you need to talk or anything then you can."  
He laughed a little. "I was beginning to think you just didn't know about yesterday."

"Are you kidding? Everyone knows."

He nodded a little. He knew it was true, but it still wasn't particularly nice to hear; everyone in his school knew everything he and his family had yelled at each other. He couldn't 't imagine what they must be saying ahout them, or what they must think of them. They must think that they hated each other… Maybe they did, now.

"It sounds rough."

"We just... we got out of control. We all said things that we didn't mean and now..." he stopped talking. He didn't know what was happening now. He just knew that this morning James hadn't looked at him, Fred had moved when Al had sat down, and Rose had deliberately charged into him on the stairs to the boys' dorms. Right now, everything was wrong.

"Look, you don't have to talk about it. You just have to know that you can. Everyone else is; you may as well get in on it."

He laughed, and she smiled hopefully.

"Thanks Maddie." He said simply.

"Any time."

She looked really pretty today, Al thought. Her hair was in waves and the sun was hitting it at an angle that made it look almost like gold.

"I'm sorry about new year's day." He said, without knowing he was going to say it until it was out for her to hear.

She shrugged. "It's ok. You had a right to be angry. Kind of..."

He nodded awkwardly. Her smile had faded a little, and she stood up.

"I'm going to get my books from the common room." She started to walk away, when Al reached out and grabbed her wrist.

"You can't leave me." She looked at him confusedly. "...In the library. You can't leave me in the library!"

She giggled a little, clearly at how stupid he was, and he collected his books and stood up awkwardly.

"Common room, yeah?" he checked with her as they began to walk towards the door.

That was until he heard someone say his name from behind him.

"Well well, Albus Potter. Star of the Daily Prophet!"

Paige bloody Parkinson. He turned and rolled his eyes.

"Look, not now Paige... wait. What?"  
"Oh. Have you not read it yet?" she raised her eyebrows, crossing her legs on the table she was sat on. "Well then never mind. But tell Rose congratulations from me, won't you?"  
"What are you-" he stepped towards her, and Maddie gripped his wrist in the same way he had gripped hers. His blood rushed a little, a mixture of anger at Paige and... something to do with Maddie.

"Let's go." She said, pulling at his wrist and turning him around. Once they were through the door Maddie didn't let go of his wrist, though. Instead she moved her hand down and twisted her fingers between his.

As it turned out, the earlier rush of blood was _nothing _to do with Paige Parkinson.

"Do you know what she was talking about?" Al asked her as they walked towards the staircase, trying hard not to acknowledge that her fingertips were in the palm of his hand.

She shook her head. "No. But it's fine; it's probably just her being attention seeking."

"Yeah. Probably." Al said doubtfully; Maddie was a little naïve, or she was just lying to be supportive. Either way; she was wrong.

He absentmindedly squeezed her hand in his, and then heard her sigh.

"Thanks for getting me out of there." He said quietly. "I'd probably be in even more trouble if you weren't around."  
She laughed under her breath. "What would you do without me?"

He thought about it for a second, and then decided to answer honestly. He had nothing to lose after all.

"Probably be a lot less happy."

He saw her look down and smile shyly, and squeezed her hand again.

And then they walked together, in a kind of peaceful, understanding silence that neither of them wanted to break, all the way to the common room.

When they got in there, the silence was broken.

The room was mayhem. Absolute mayhem. Groups of teenagers were sat or stood in every available space, talking loudly. Pieces of paper were flying across the common room, and Al heard his name, he heard his family's name, he heard his father's name...

"Oi, Potter! You and Maddie; what would your Dad say, eh?" Al wasn't sure where it came from, but he didn't understand at all.

He let go of Maddie's hand, and pushed through the kids until he was at the sofas where his family were sat.

"Get lost!" Fred yelled to a group of first years who were hovering nearby as Al arrived. "You can bugger off too!" he told him, his eyes wild with stress.

"What the hell is going on?" Al asked, ignoring Fred's command.

Weirdly, he noticed, Fred was sat in his seat. Not James'; James' seat was empty, apart from a newspaper.

Dom reached over to this seat, and unfolded the paper.

"_Weasley and Potter children out of control at Hogwarts." _She sighed, reading the headline.

"Front page." Hugo told him, his head in his hands.

"Is that what they're all talking about?" Maddie asked from Al's side. She must've never left him, Al realised.

"Yeah." Louis nodded tiredly.

"What does it say?" Al asked.

"Oh just sit down will you! You're bugging me with the hovering." Fred said exasperatedly.

"Sit down?" Al asked cautiously.

Fred looked up, and raised his eyebrows. "I'm only going to say it once, ok?"

Al nodded, and sat down on the sofa. Maddie sat next to him nervously.

"Here." Dom passed them the paper. "Read it for yourselves."

Al just looked down at it. The moving picture was of the ten of them, yelling at each other in silence and the headline flashed across the top in capital letters. He couldn't bring himself to touch it; touching it would make it real.

Maddie seemed to wait for him, but then realised that he wasn't going to read it for himself and reached for it.

"Want me to read it out loud?" she asked Al.

He nodded.

She sighed, and then began to read. "_Weasley and Potter children out of control at Hogwarts. The children of the war-scarred families fight publicly in the school corridors after years of recklessness._"  
"Years of-"  
"Shh." Hugo shook his head, as if warning Al that it was only going to get worse.

"_Yesterday, the perfect facade of Harry Potter's family fell apart as the children openly fought in their school corridor. The argument is said to have come after weeks of separation in the family, as James removed himself from the unit and Rose Weasley was exiled for being in a forbidden relationship with Scorpius Malfoy, son of the youngest Death Eater in history. Our source, a pupil at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry, said "James hasn't been talking to the family for a while; around two weeks now. There are lots of rumours as to why, but it seems to centre around his break up with Louisa Hall, who's a close friend of Roxanne Weasley." Sure enough, these rumours were seemingly confirmed in the argument, in which Roxanne shouted that it was James' fault Louisa Hall, fellow head girl, was crying. _

_But what of the most controversial relationship, Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy? Their fathers, Ron Weasley of the Golden trio and Draco Malfoy, are part of a legendary fight which can be traced back multiple generations. Rose and Scorpius' controversial relationship began in friendship, including Albus Severus Potter in "the new Golden Trio" but Albus appears to have been left behind. We asked our source of the school's, and more importantly the family's, reaction to the relationship. "It's clear to us outsiders that Rose is only with Scorpius out of hatred for her own family. She clearly has something against her surname; she even said in the argument that she 'didn't want to be a Weasley'." However, the relationship seems to have taken a more serious turn, as rumours that Rose is expecting Scorpius' child were only further proven when James claimed that Fred Weasley (son of George Weasley, owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) wouldn't mind if the younger members of the family were all "pregnant" or if "Lily (the youngest Potter, 14) was having sex too". _

_Shockingly, this was not the only reference to sexual relations that the Weasleys and Potters made. "They all teased James for being the only virgin." says our source. Baring in mind that only four of these children are now 17, the implications of underage sex are clear. "Everyone knows Louis' not a virgin," says our source of Bill Weasley's fifth year son, "and clearly Rose and Scorpius have done it for her to be pregnant. Al Potter's likely to have done it, as he has been seen with Madeline Fletcher late at night many times." Not only this, but James Potter openly said that Dominique Weasley "slept with anything that moved" during the argument that was viewed by over a hundred Hogwarts pupils._

_Clearly, the Weasley and Potter children have lost all respect of themselves, or of the Hogwarts school rules. "They're always breaking the rules. James and Fred throw parties that involve alcohol at every opportunity, and they are often not punished due to their surnames. James even said in the argument that Professor McGonagall would 'choose a Potter over a Malfoy'." It appears that the children have become obsessed with the status their surnames bring them, and now rely upon this. Our source claims that Dominque Weasley often receives high grades despite not making an effort in lessons, and Albus Potter often uses his family connections with Herbology teacher, Professor Longbottom, to avoid detentions. Not only this, but it also seems that the teens have a lack of respect for people who aren't part of their family, reportedly proven when Roxanne told her (now rumoured to be ex-) boyfriend of three years, Craig Cunningham, that the argument was "about family" before ordering him to leave._

_Although the Weasleys and Potters have always seemed a united family, this act faded yesterday evening, as the divides between the children became clear. "It started off with James insulting Dominique and Louis' mother," our source explained. "He said that she was 'only good for one thing' and that her children were following in her footsteps." Our source went on to show that the ideal marriage of Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter is not so, as Dominique Weasley said that the couple was "the most messed up of them all". _

_Admittedly, these children seem to have an obsession with a past that they don't understand. While Rose spoke of Harry Potter telling his son "war stories", Al was accused of calling Scorpius a "bloodtraitor." The children all used language reminiscent of the Second Wizarding War against each other, eventually taken to the level of James saying that George Weasley and Angelina Johnston, parents of Roxanne and Fred, didn't contribute to the war effort and claiming that he "didn't know a radio station saved the world." The family also seemed to have an (arguably understandable) obsession with the Malfoy surname. "James kept bringing up Scorpius' surname. He even called Scorpius himself a death eater at one point." Our source also claims this is not the first time that the family have been prejudiced against Malfoy for his surname. Rumours are that Albus and Scorpius, who were best friends until Rose and Scorpius began a relationship, had a fight last week that resorted to them both yelling about their parent's feud. "Al apparently claimed that Scorpius' father tried to murder his family, and James is rumoured to have badly beaten Scorpius up a few weeks ago. Fred said James 'nearly killed' him." _

_Perhaps most mysteriously though, was the lack of Lily in the family argument. Our source tells us that Lily pulled herself away from the family weeks ago. "James yelled at her at breakfast two weeks ago, and since then she hasn't been seen with anyone from her family." Perhaps she has been the smartest of the family, staying away from the bad influences?_

_While the parents of the delinquent teenagers are yet to make a comment on this story, Rose Weasley herself perfectly summed up their inevitable reactions when she asked her older cousin James "Do you reckon Uncle Harry'd be proud of you?" We at the Daily Prophet bet he will not be proud of any of them."_

When Maddie finished reading Al stared at her, while Dom just sighed. Fred had stood up and began to pace back and forth at some point within the article, and Louis and Hugo were furiously shaking their heads.

"I can't... who's the source?" Al asked angrily.  
"It could be anyone. Slytherin, most likely, but there's no proof so..."

Once again, Al felt someone's fingers slip between his own. He turned his head to see Maddie looking at him sympathetically, and didn't hear the end of Dom's sentence since he was so distracted.

About to speak, but again not sure what he was going to say, Al found himself interrupted by James' voice from the portrait hole.

"Have you read it?" he yelled, causing the gossiping common room to fall silent.

Fred turned in his direction. "Yeah. Are you proud?"  
"Proud? Why would I be-?"  
"It's your fault." Fred shrugged.

"There are quotes from all of us in there, Fred! You can't blame that article on me!"  
"Maybe not. But I will blame you when our parents pull us out of Hogwarts."

Al just turned, and looked at Fred with shock. They wouldn't get pulled out, would they?

Looking at his cousins, he saw they were all looking up at Fred and James with the same worried expressions.

Clearly, no one knew what was going to happen.

...

Rose stormed down the hill alone, past the groups of kids who stared at her with their eyes wide.

"Oi, Weasley, congrat-"  
"I'm not pregnant!" she screamed, turning on the gang of Slytherin boys. Without fully thinking, she pulled her wand out. "And you better tell every single person you see that I'm not. Or else I will make you pay."

They didn't seem overly scared, so she angled her wand towards a rock beside them and said a spell in her head. The rock exploded, sending pieces of it flying through the air.

"Rose what are you doing?" she turned to see Scorp running down the hill after her, looking between her and the now terrified younger boys.

She glared at him, before continuing to run away.

How could this happen? How could anything like this happen?

She continued to ask herself these questions until eventually she was stood by the lake with tears in her eyes, her anger having apparently evaporated away and been replaced with sadness.

"Rose!" she heard Scorpius yell as he finally caught up with her.

She just sniffed, continuing to stare out at the water.

"Rose?" he said quietly. "Look, it's ok-"  
"How is it ok?" she asked, turning and looking into his eyes angrily. "How? Everyone reads that paper. My family, your family-"  
"My family don't." He shrugged.

"Oh! Well that makes it all better. See, I 'm not bothered about the rest of England, I only cared about whether your family think I'm pregnant!"  
"Rose." He sighed, reaching his hand to hers.

She shrugged it off. "You don't get it." She shook her head, the tears again reaching her eyes. "They saved the world."

"Yeah I know-"  
"No you don't! Our parents _saved the world. _No other kids on the planet know what that feels like; no one else can ever imagine how it feels to have that much pressure on you to keep a low profile; no interviews, no scandals, no bad behaviour. _'No comment'_ were Hugo's first words for Merlin's sake!" she sighed. "They saved the world. And we've just completely let them down."

Scorpius shook his head. "It's not true Rose, you've not let them down."  
"I might not be pregnant but we still said those things! They think I'm only with you to spite them! I said I didn't want to be Weasley and I... It's going to kill my Dad."

They stood there silently, Scorpius seemingly having run out of arguments.

"I knew we were famous, I knew that. But why would anyone write this? Why would anyone from this school tell a paper this-"  
"Rose, it's just because they're bored with their own lives-"  
"I'd rather be bored than going through this." She began to laugh weakly to herself, before tears sprang to her eyes and her smiles turned to sobs. Scorpius put his arms out to her, and she fell into them.

God knows how long they were there. They ended up sat on the floor, Rose whining about everything that went wrong and Scorp silently listening.

For a while they were in their own world, far enough away that it didn't feel real. There wasn't _really _millions of copies of a newspaper that claimed Rose was pregnant. It was all a nightmare; it wasn't reality.

"Rose?"

Lily's voice reminded Rose it was real. And now they had to face reality, even if it was made up of lies.

"Dad's coming over. So you need to come with me."

Rose nodded, standing up and reaching her hand out to Scorpius'.

"Family only." Lily said simply, looking down at Scorpius sympathetically.

Rose turned and looked at Scorp, hoping her eyes told him how scared she was.

He seemed to know. He stood up, and kissed her on the forehead.

"It'll be ok. I'll still be here when it's over."

She nodded, then sighed and followed her cousin in the direction of the school.

"Do- Do I look alright?" Rose asked.

Lily turned and looked her up and down. She shook her head. "No, you look like a mess. But look at it this way; at least you don't look pregnant."  
Rose laughed a little nervously, then Lily reached her hand out and Rose took it.

Lily reminded her; Rose wasn't ready to lose her family just yet.


	35. Getting What's Coming

Was going to wait until tomorrow to update, but I've changed my mind, since you all reviewed so nicely. Please keep doing it! :D Ooh, and if 6 more people alert this I'm up to 100 (hint hint).

Anyways, thankyou to anonymous reviewers rita, shanii21 and LilaJ (and PurpleMonkeyDishwashers) who I can't PM in reply.

Hope you like this part; please tell me your thoughts! :D

_**Disclaimer: **__I have not gained the rights to HP in the last few days. I wish...

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Five- Getting What's Coming)**

Fred was not happy; not even a little bit.

Somehow, with James gone, he had become the patriarch of the family. He didn't like that responsibility at all. Sure, he had at first. At first it had been cool to be in charge, having everyone following him for once. But after seeing Jake and Lily together and having Louis and Hugo looking at him expectantly while Dom and Roxy looked at him sternly, and spending every free second with one of his family members; not so much. He'd practically forgotten he even had a girlfriend, it had been so long since he'd been alone with Anna.

Truth be told, it bloody sucked to be the oldest guy in the family.

If he wasn't so mad at him, Fred would be appreciative of all the stuff James used to put up with.

"Why McGonagall's office? I feel like we're in trouble..." Louis said quietly, looking around the office worriedly.

"We are." Dom replied simply. "We're in huge trouble."

Fred sighed, shaking his head. _'Huge trouble'_ didn't even begin cover it. There were no words that could describe the damage. Sure, people would try, but no one would match the real effects. It hadn't just damaged the _reputations; _it had damaged the people.

The problem was that he could imagine his parents reading the article; he could imagine their faces and their anger. That scared him more than reality seemed to.

He'd said goodbye to Anna earlier, just in case he never came back into the common room again. It may have been extreme, but he just had a feeling; one of those feelings that a storm was heading his way, and he didn't even have an umbrella.

At least he wouldn't have to actually see his parent's reactions. That brought him a little comfort; he only had to face Uncle Harry, according to what Roxy had said.

Weirdly, his sister wasn't in the headmistress' office; she'd ordered them to follow her in the common room, taken them in here, and then walked straight back out the door. Through Fred's eyes, that was worrying.

"So, what do you want your funeral song to be?" Dom asked. Fred saw Hugo turn his head quickly, looking worried.

"W-What?"  
"Well obviously, I'm the girl. I'll be killed last. So I'll make sure you'll get the songs you want."  
Al laughed a little, under his breath.

"Seriously, if you could have any song in the world, what would it be?"  
"The classic funeral march'll do for me." Al shrugged.

"You're boring." Hugo told him. "I'm thinking something funny. _Can You Dance Like A Hippogriff_ maybe?"  
"You can't have that! We'll just laugh."

"Exactly. What about you, Fred?"  
Fred shrugged. He didn't really like the morbid conversation.

He'd never been to a funeral, he was lucky there, but he'd been to seventeen war memorial services; that was enough black for him.

"Mum'll get control of ours." Louis shrugged. "It'll probably be some French opera rubbish."  
"Not for me." Dom shrugged. "Mine'll be _Songbird_ by Eva Cassidy."  
"Who?"  
"Some old muggle singer."

"Muggle geek." Fred coughed.

They'd always called her that when they were little. She had a weird obsession with muggles; muggle music, muggle films, muggle books... hence the nickname muggle geek. It was a kind of weakness of Dom; no one else except the family knew about it.

She laughed a little, as did the other three boys, but their laughs faded when the door clicked closed behind them.

Fred turned and saw James in the doorway.

"Jake said..." his voice trailed away, and he sat on one of the four spare chairs that were laid out in front of the head's desk. The room was a bit of a mess actually; nine different chairs were spread out, not quite in a straight line, in front of a contrastingly neat and tidy desk.

They sat in silence for a few moments, a silence so tense that Fred forced himself to be distracted so he didn't break it.

So he thought of Anna.

James spoke first. "Where is-"  
"Weasleys only." Fred replied, assuming (for some reason only known to Fred's brain) that James meant the girl he was thinking of.

"Lily and Rose are Weasleys." James replied, turning towards Fred. "Or are you just disowning everyone nowadays?"

"They're on their way." Al said quietly.

"Oh." James said simply.

Fred sniggered. "Not so smart now are you?" he said under his breath, getting louder with every word. "'Oh my parents actually did something in the war and I'm just so great and I protect my family and blah, blah, blah!'"

"Oh shut it, Fred. At least I care about someone other than myself-"  
Fred just laughed. "Who're you kidding? In James' world there is only James."

His cousin seemed to sit up a little more in his seat. "Ok, you can accuse me of whatever you like except being selfish. That's all you."  
"In what ways am I selfish?"  
"In what ways are you not? You only care about you and Anna, you don't give a damn about your family-"  
"I don't care about my family? Who's the one who doesn't care if the girls cry themselves to sleep at night as long as they're nowhere near big bad boys-?"

"Shut it!" the door slammed shut loudly, and Fred was surprised to see that Lily was clearly the girl who had just yelled at them, with Rose stood behind her.

Shocked speechless, Fred just nodded mindlessly.

Lily walked forward and sat in one of the remaining seats, looking relatively pleased with herself, while Rose just sat down feebly.

She'd been crying; even Fred knew that and he was rubbish at sensing these things. But her eyes were red and puffy and she was even wearing tracksuit bottoms. Fred didn't even know she owned tracksuit bottoms.

Clearly, the article had upset her. It had upset all of them, but Rose had definitely come off worse.

"So," Hugo said, clicking his teeth in the silence. "Sis, how's the pregnancy going?"

God, Hugo was stupid.

Rose turned and glared at him, and Fred and the other cousins just looked at him in a serious way.

"Not ready to joke about it then..." Hugo concluded, sinking in his seat a little.

They stayed like that, in silence, for a while; the fear of what could happen next radiating off them all.

When the door clicked open behind them, Fred didn't even turn his head. That was until Roxanne whispered "McGonagall's coming!" before running into the one spare seat.

Sure enough, seconds later, Professor McGonagall was in the doorway and the family stood up in sync.

"You can sit down, children." She said simply, walking round the side of the office, past Louis (who physically flinched) and then sat in her seat at the desk.

She didn't say anything, and Fred found himself glancing at his cousins. He hoped that the fact that they were related would suddenly give them Legilimensy, and one of them would answer his question _Why the hell was McGonagall here?_

None of them seemed to hear his thoughts, until he glanced at James and he shrugged back, rolling his eyes.

For a second, Fred smiled. Then he stopped, and looked back at his headmistress quickly.

"Your family will be here shortly." She eventually said.

"O-Our family? Not just Uncle Harry?"

Surprisingly, it was Hugo who asked the question they were all thinking.

"No Mr Weasley, after speaking to Mr Potter we've agreed that all your parents should be involved."

"A-All our..." Rose's voice trailed away, and her eyes returned to her lap.

McGonagall rose from her seat, and Fred felt his cousins shuffle just a little towards each other.

The punishment was coming.

"The fact is, children, that you come from exceptional families. I have always been under the impression that you understood this, and that you understand that this comes with certain responsibilities." They nodded, although Fred had a feeling Hugo didn't comprehend a word she'd said. "However, no matter how exceptional your circumstances, it does not make you exempt from the school rules of Hogwarts that have been in place for thousands of years."

Fred nodded, looking down at the floor as all of the rest of them now were.

"Now, I will, as the headmistress, agree to implement any punishments your parents see fit, as this situation is first and foremost a family matter."

Fred looked up hopefully, his eyes meeting his head teachers. Was it really just up to their parents? He could probably haggle his way out of that...

"However," Fred's heart sank. "I feel it's necessary to enforce a few extra regulations upon you, to ensure that you are aware of the current Hogwarts rules. Firstly, all of you must be in your own dorms by ten o'clock every evening." Fred suppressed a groan, but Louis wasn't as tactful. McGonagall just looked sternly at him, and continued to talk. "Secondly, any of you that are found to be using the room of requirement will find themselves in detention. Thirdly, you are not permitted to attend the next Hogsmeade visit. The final rule is however the most important, and any of you found breaking this rule will find themselves back in my office; none of you girls are allowed in the boys dormitories at any point, and boys you are not permitted to have any females in your dormitories."

Fred's mouth fell open. No... no Anna?

"Is something wrong, Mr Weasley?" Fred looked up to see McGonagall looking at him expectantly.

He shook his head wordlessly.

"Very well. These regulations will be implemented until I feel you've all been reminded of the original rules. I expect your parents will be here soon, so I'll leave you to yourselves. May I please request that there is no fighting," she glanced at James "within the few minutes you are alone?" They nodded, and McGonagall turned to Roxy. "Roxanne, will you please tell your parents that if they wish to consult with me I will be in my classroom?"  
Roxy nodded simply, and then stood up as McGonagall moved from behind her desk.

Since his sister had done it, Fred and the rest of his family stood as Professor McGonagall walked out of the room.

And then Fred literally fell backwards into his seat, closing his eyes.

"You alright?" he heard Dom ask from his side. She seemed sympathetic, so Fred shook his head.

"I can't imagine not having Anna with me..."

"Those rules are harsh." Louis said, agreeing.

"Yeah, you're not kidding." James replied.

"Speak for yourself; it'll be nice to wake up without her around once or twice." Al said, looking at Rose. He sounded like he was being funny, but it wasn't clear.

"Great, Al, I'm glad you'll be happier!" Rose replied, clearly not seeing it as a joke and finally looking up from her lap.

"I didn't mean it like that-" Al began, sitting up.

"Then why did you say it?" Dom asked.  
"Because it's true! It might be nice to have my best friend back once or twice."

Rose didn't reply, looking up at the headmasters' portraits instead.

They all sat in silence for a moment, Al looking guiltily at the back of Rose's head.

"So are we going to play The United Front?" Louis asked.

The United Front was a Weasley classic; the kids had invented it when they were younger, after they'd realised that their parents were just annoying when the kids had argued and they tried to fix it. So instead they used to pretend to be friends around the adults, and refuse to say anything bad about the other. Amazingly, this used to mean that they got far simpler punishments, and then they would sort out their own problems.

"How? We're anything but united, and they know it." Dom replied.

The family mumbled in reply. It was true, Fred would admit.

He was beginning to wonder if this would ever sort itself out like he was hoping.

Silent again, the family just stared around the room and wondered when their parents would arrive.

Then they heard the fire to the right of them crackle, and burn green.

And Fred could practically hear the heartbeats around him speed up.


	36. The Way It Turns Out

Hey guys! My God, crazy week of exams. All my sciences and English Lit. Damn, it hurt. Why can't we do Harry Potter? It's a post 1914 novel! Not fair...

Anyways, rant over! :L Right, update finally. Really do hope it lives up to all your expectations.

Love how many new readers and reviewers I seem to have gotten; I really appreciate it! As always thanks to reviewers and alerters (totally hit 100! Now have to do the same with favourites... ;]) And to reviewers: _AngelEllie, LucieeBabeex, just me_ and _Driney_ who I can't reply to...

Oh, and completely off topic but has anyone seen the epilogue photos? Everyone looks so old! They're only meant to be 37. But I do think Lily, Al and Hugo look perfect; not made my mind up about the rest of them yet.

_**Disclaimer**__: I don't own Harry Potter. Simple.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Six- The Way It Turns Out)**

Roxy wasn't really there.

Sure, she was sat in a room with McGonagall listing punishments at them. And she'd been running around like a crazy person earlier because Lily had begged her to, but she wasn't really _there_.

She wasn't anywhere.

She almost felt as though she was dreaming. But the dream had gone wrong somewhere, and now everything was just crumbling around her.

This was what happened when you didn't sleep.

That was what happened when you had to stay in your old dorm, to avoid your boyfriend.

That was what happened when you just stood there wordlessly when your boyfriend tried to get you to defend him.

And that was what happened when your cousins decided to cause a complete riot in the corridor, which was now published for the whole world to see.

That was her situation. That was why she wasn't anywhere. And why she really couldn't care less about what was going on.

"Roxanne?" Roxy flicked her head up to see McGonagall looking down at her. She wondered for a second if she'd been asked a question, but then her headmistress continued to speak and she sighed a little in relief. "Will you please tell your parents that if they wish to consult with me I will be in my classroom?"

Roxy just nodded, then stood up automatically as McGonagall left. Then she fell back into her seat and went back to staring at nothing.

Her cousins were discussing whatever McGonagall had said. It seemed to have upset Fred, and annoyed the rest of them.

She vaguely registered when Rose yelled a little at Al.

If she felt sorry for any of them, she felt sorry for Rose. The rest of them were just being stupid, but Rose was now stuck in a bad situation because of rumours and other people's actions.

It was alright for Roxy, everything in the article about her had been true. A little embarrassing, sure, but true.

Somehow, they fell silent again, after Louis suggested using The United Front trick.

He was such a child sometimes. Stuff like that would never work now; the parents weren't stupid. Dom pretty much said that in reply, so Roxy didn't have to.

And then the fire behind the desk crackled a little.

And then it changed colour from orange to green.

And even though Roxy claimed she didn't care about whatever punishments they got, or how stupid her cousins had decided to be, she still gripped the side of her chair a little.

The silhouette of her Uncle was the first thing she saw. It was a little ominous, really, until the fire died down and she saw his face. His classic black hair just as messed up as Al and James' always was, covering the top half of his scar. The same eyes as Albus, but somehow the same face as Lily…Her Uncle Harry.

He rarely didn't look happy. Occasionally when they mentioned the war he would go quiet and a little more sombre, but generally he seemed quite content. Right now though, he seemed to barely have any emotions.

He didn't say a word to them, just stepped out of the fire and allowed another shadow to take his place, this time clearly Roxy's Aunt Ginny, her hair matching the colour the flames should've been. Again, she didn't say a word, just stood next to her husband. Next was Uncle Ron, then Aunt Hermione. In just one side glance at her, Roxanne could feel Rose's unease.

Then came Roxy's Uncle Bill, joining the still silent brigade of parents.

And then came the shadow Roxy was dreading. Tall, with long hair pulled back.

Her mother.

When the flames died and Roxy saw her Mum's face, she suddenly had an overwhelming wish to go home. She wanted to run up to her Mum and beg her for advice; she would surely know what to do about Craig. Roxy only ever went to her Mum for advice.

Her mother didn't even look at her though, just silently stood next to the others' parents. And none of the kids made a noise, just looked up at their parents a little longingly.

She glanced at Fred, the twin-thing kicking in; she knew that right now, he really wanted to go home too.

And then the fire burned green for the final time, and Roxy's funny, happy father stood in the flames, awkwardly frowning.

"Hiya kids!" he said, stepping out of the fire.

Roxy almost laughed. God, she loved her Dad.

The rest of the parents turned a glared at him a little, clearly having planned to appear united, and Roxy's Mum hit her father on the arm as he joined the line.

All the parents had their arms folded; they didn't look at all happy. After so long without seeing them, Roxy hated that they were finally meeting again in angry silence.

"I would say that it's nice to see you, but in this situation it isn't really, is it?" Roxy's Aunt Hermione said simply, unfolding her arms.

The kids didn't reply; none of them. Roxy turned and saw that they were all just looking up with fear etched in their eyes.

"What do you have to say for yourselves then?" Aunt Ginny asked.

Then they all spoke at once. The word sorry was echoed by all of them, surrounded by different paragraphs of reasons or excuses.

Roxy chose to simply not speak.

She was sorry, they would know that.

"We can't hear you if you all talk over each other!" Bill said, keeping his arms crossed.

They fell straight back into silence, apart from Louis who said "We're really sorry, Dad."

"Yeah, we let you down." Hugo agreed.

Then something weird happened; the parents softened a little. Those who still had their arms crossed or on their hips relaxed, Ginny leant back on the desk behind her and Ron sighed and leant his head back.

The kids looked at each other a little confusedly, but then their Uncle Harry spoke.

"We appreciate the apology. Have you said it to each other?"

"Wh-what?" Al said.

"Have you apologised to each other?" Roxy's Mum asked, in the slow patronising away that she perfected on Fred years ago.

"We're not leaving until you do."

You're going to be here forever then, Roxy thought; none of the younger ones would speak first, Dom and Roxy weren't the problem here and the boys were so stubborn that neither of them would ever-

"I'm sorry, guys." James said simply. Roxy had to stop her mouth falling open, and one glance to her side showed her that the rest of them were equally as shocked. "I do realise that this is all my fault, you know?" he sighed. "You guys and Louisa are right; I am controlling. I don't mean to be, I honestly don 't, I just don't want any of you to get hurt. I feel like I have to protect you all because I'm the oldest, and I know I don't go about it the right way but... yeah." He turned his head to Rose, seemingly unable to stop apologising now he'd started. "I'm so sorry for the way I behaved about you and Scorpius. It was despicable and I know it; I promise it won't happen again."

Rose nodded. "I-It's alright, I guess. I'm sorry too, for yelling at you in the corridor-"  
"You hardly said anything." Al said. "I was the one who was to blame for all of that. I'm sorry, Rose. And I'm sorry for everything with Scorpius as well; I don't mean everything I say about you two. I don't think you could do much better than him. He could but..." he laughed awkwardly, as did Rose.

It was weird. They were all being sentimental and honest and showing their feelings and... it wasn't what they did in this family; every now and again they would talk about the past and discuss the war, but that was about as deep as they ever got. Roxy wondered if she'd fallen asleep out of exhaustion, and was now dreaming this entire moment.

It was as if they didn't even realise that the parents were there watching; it didn't feel forced. Roxy thought all of them had wanted to sort this out, whether the parents were there or not.

"I'm sorry Lily." James said, turning to his other side and apologising to his sister. "And to you two. I know I used to cause you hell." He said, nodding at Dominique and Roxy.

"It's alright." Dom replied. "I know you only ever do it to protect us. And you have saved me from some right bas-"

"Ahem."

Dom turned and looked at her Dad. "Sorry." She mumbled. "And Uncle Harry, I'm so sorry for what I said about you and Aunt Ginny. It wasn't true at all, and I don't know what took over me..."  
"It's alright." Ginny shrugged.

"I'm sorry about what I said about Aunt Fleur, Bill." James mumbled.

"Well, you will be when she next sees you!" he replied. Roxy could tell James was hoping he was joking, but she doubted it. "But in my books you're ok, James."  
"As long as you win the Quidditch cup..." Ron mumbled, earning a slap on the arm from Hermione and slight laughter from the rest of the parents.

"A-and George I'm so sorry for ever even _thinking _those things never mind sayi-"  
"It's alright, James." George replied simply, still smiling.

It may have been daughter's instinct, but Roxy sensed that her Dad's acceptance wasn't completely sincere. He always got a little angry when anybody spoke about Fred, and she sincerely doubted he would forgive the implication that his twin's death was nothing.

"Fred, what have you got to say?" Roxy's Mum asked her brother, turning a little to look him in the eyes.

"I'm..." Fred had never said _sorry _in Roxy's life. It had never happened. And she was pretty sure it wasn't about to...

"I'm 'orry."

Roxy almost smiled to herself, satisfied that Fred hadn't proved her wrong.

"There." Her Dad said, clapping his hands. "Doesn't everyone feel better now?" he said, sarcastically.

Roxy laughed; her Dad made her laugh like no one else could.

She heard a noise from beside her, and saw that the rest of them were laughing too. Not much, just enough to show that things were a little better. Fred and James were looking at each other meaningfully, and Fred just nodded at his best friend; they were ok now. All was right with the world.

"Obviously, you children arguing was the most worrying part of that article to us." Hermione said.

"Speak for yourself." Ron mumbled.

"But," Uncle Harry spoke louder than his best friend. "There are some other things we now have to talk about, now that you're all friends again."

At this, Louis physically groaned, putting his head in his hands, and Rose sank back into her seat as her smile vanished.

"Lily." Uncle Harry said, turning to his daughter. "Do you remember what I said to you the day I told you about Malfoy manor?"  
Lily nodded a little nervously. "You told us not to treat anyone any differently."  
"Do you remember that, boys?" Ginny said over her husband's shoulder.

Al and James both nodded, grimacing a little.

"Now, I'm sure Scorpius is a good person." As Harry began to speak, Roxy noticed Uncle Ron rolling his eyes behind his back, "and you cannot use what happened when we were at school against him. Agreed?"

Both boys looked so much like children for a second, nodding as if they were puppets.

"That goes for all of you." Aunt Ginny pointed out. "None of you can judge by... well, anything. Just judge them for the people they are, not what they look like or their surname or their blood or-"  
"We get it, Mum." James said, smiling a little. "No judging."

Ginny smiled back, then shuffled on her feet.

"That just leaves something else that came up in the article to discuss..." She said, glancing at the other parents, who now looked as awkward as the children had just minutes earlier.

"Can we just do it my way?" Roxy's Dad asked impatiently.

"No, George."  
"Why?" he whined at his sister.

"Because it's stupid." Her Mum replied.

"No, it's not!"  
"What's George's way?" Hermione asked Ginny in a hushed voice.

Roxy's Dad saw this as permission to demonstrate, and stepped forward.

"Hands up, which of you kids have had sex?"

Roxy suddenly had an obsession with the pattern on the rug, and wished the floor would just fall away and she would go with it.

She looked out of the corner of her eye at her cousins, and saw none of the others had put up their hands either. Louis had even crossed his arms tightly, Dominique was biting her nails and Fred was staring up at the ceiling with interest. The virgins of the family, however, were a little less awkward; James was even smiling at Fred knowingly.

"You either tell us, or we ask you all individually." Her Dad said.

Roxy bit her lip hard as saw Dom's hand go up out. She noticed Bill's face fall a little, and felt guilty that she would have to do that to her Dad. Fred's hand went up next, and she saw her Mum look at him disappointedly. Then up went Louis' hand; Bill's mouth fell open.

"Louis!" Ginny exclaimed, clearly as shocked as the other parents.

"Sorry, just being honest!" Louis winced. "No judging, remember."

Louis turned and looked meaningfully at Roxy, and she put her hand up slowly.

Her Dad looked gutted. His eyes suddenly seemed full of disappointment, and he ran his hands through his hair.

"Right... well. Is that all of you?" he asked, moving from one foot to another and not meeting Roxy's eyes.

They stayed silent, and Roxy saw Hermione looking at her daughter warily. "Rose..." she asked.

Brown eyes met brown eyes as Rose looked up. "Yes. That's all of us, Mum." She said, shortly.

Roxy thought that if the kids weren't around, Harry and Ron would literally high five.

"So you're not..."  
"Pregnant? No."

"And you and Scorpius haven't-"  
"No."  
Roxy sighed. Everything today had gone surprisingly well, considering the doomed circumstances she thought they were in earlier.

Then Uncle Bill asked a stupid question, probably out of pure curiosity. "Then why did you beat him up, James?"

Roxy turned her head, and saw all eyes were now on James. A part of her wanted him to reply honestly, so there were no more lies, but she knew that that would mean Rose would be in an even worse position. Things were never simple, really.

"Oh, er. Because I..." he seemed to look at Rose apologetically, and Roxy was almost sure of what he was about to say. "I was just upset about me and Lou breaking up, and so I found them kissing and took my anger out on Scorpius. I know it was wrong but I... yeah."  
James was really surprising Roxy today, she realised.

"James... I hope you've apologised to Scorpius!" Ginny said angrily.

"I... I will." He nodded, looking meaningfully at Rose. She just smiled back, and Roxy saw her mouth "_Thank you_."  
"There's never an excuse for violence, kids." Aunt Hermione said authoritatively.

"Says the girl who punched Malfoy in third year." Her Uncle Harry said, jokingly.

His wife and her brother laughed, and Hermione scowled a little.

"Anyway kids, we better be going." Harry said, squirming under Hermione's glare.

"Wait..." Fred said quietly. "You're not punishing us? Like, at all?"  
Bloody Fred Weasley, Roxy cursed mentally. She was going to kick her brother, although one glance at her cousins told her she was going to have to get in line.

"Tell me Fred, what's everyone at school like about the Prophet article?" Harry asked, tilting his head a little.

"Completely pains in th-"  
"What Fred means to say," Roxy saved her brother. "Is that they're all pretty annoying about it."  
"Yeah, they keep congratulating me." Rose mumbled. She didn't seem quite as angry about it now; there was even a little smile on her face.

"I don't know what your problem is; I'm a legend now." Louis said simply, before looking up, seeing his father, and looking straight back down.

"I remember being in school when I was in the news. I think that's punishment enough for you." Uncle Harry said, smiling. He was so rational all of the time, it was pretty amazing; he kept calm in almost every situation, maybe because nothing could compare to what he had once been through.

"Great, then can you tell McGonagall to call off her punishments?"  
"Why, what's she done?" Roxy's Dad asked nosily.

"We're not allowed girls in our rooms, we have to be in our dorms at ten, we can't go in the room of requirement and we're not allowed into Hogsmeade." Fred listed angrily.  
George smiled. "Nice." He said sarcastically to his son, for which he got glares back. "Well as much as we hate to leave you in your boring school with all the gossip about you, we must get back to being stuck in our houses with reporters surrounding us!"

"Sorry. You're not mad at us are you?" Hugo asked, a little stupidly.

"Oh, Hugo we were never mad-" his mother began to reply.

"Yes you were; you were stomping all over the house!" Ron replied, properly speaking for the first time all day.  
"No, Ronald, I was not." Hermione looked at her husband sternly, and he shut his mouth. "We were just disappointed, Hugo."  
"That's even worse." James replied, sighing.

"Yeah..." Hugo whined.

Then silence hit them again. The parents, clearly planning on leaving, looked down at their children, and they looked right back up.

No one knew if they were meant to be moving to leave or getting up to say goodbye or just watching as silently as they had watched them arrive.

Ginny and Harry turned without words, and began to walk towards the fire.

Then Lily, who had been pretty much silent the entire time her parents had been with her, jumped up from her seat and put her arms around her mother.

"I missed you." She said as she transferred her arms so they were around her father instead.

"God, Lils, you're such a nerd." Al said, looking at his sister disappointedly. "No one else is going to hug their-"  
"I missed you, Dad." James said, getting up and hugging his Dad. He and his father then turned to Al. "Come on, Severus, you know you want to." He teased.  
Al grumbled, stood up, and hugged his Mum and Dad. Then the three of the children stood by the fireplace as their parents stepped into the fire one by one and disappeared.

"Bye kids." Uncle Bill said, turning towards the fire once Harry and Ginny were gone.

Dominique and Louis both stood, without saying a word, and got up and hugged their Dad silently. They then stood by the fire as their Dad stepped into the flames. Then Dominique said something in French, which made Louis and Bill laugh as he disappeared.

"Bye Mum and Dad, I'll miss you!" Fred called jokingly across the room as their parents also turned towards the fire, still sat in his chair.

"You too!" Her Dad yelled back, putting his hands around his mouth as if they were miles from each other.

Roxy, weirdly automatically, stood and practically ran at her Mum, feeling her feet skim across the carpeted ground. She put her arms around her Mum's neck and realised exactly why Lily had done it; in these few seconds she felt like she was right back home. After a few seconds she sighed, unclasped her fingers, and turned to her Dad.

He smiled at her awkwardly, and Roxy bit her lip back. She felt like she had to justify herself, justify why she put her hand up...

"Dad I-"  
"Craig, right?" he said quietly. Roxanne nodded quietly. "Only..."  
She nodded again.

"Right. I'm going to kill him."  
"Please don't, I think James has already got that covered."

Her father nodded. "I hope so." Then she put her arms out like she used to when she was little and wanted picking up, and he smiled and hugged her.

"If he ever hurts you then I will take over James' job." He said quietly into her hair.

"He won't." She mumbled, slightly disbelievingly.

He might never hurt her, she thought, but he might break up with her.

Her dad was clearly unable to deal with the slightly serious situation (he always was) as he leant back and shouted over Roxy's head. "You still haven't beaten me, James, we got into far more trouble at this school."  
"Yeah, but you never got a toilet seat, did you?" Roxy's brother teased.  
George smiled. "If I want one thing from you, Fred, I want that toilet seat."

"No problem, Dad."  
Then Aunt Hermione spoke from behind them. "Don't encourage them, George!"

"Gotta go!" George replied hastily, practically running into the fire to dodge Hermione. Roxy's Mum shook her head, and stepped into the fire after her husband.

And that was it, her parents were gone.

Roxy was now just stood on her own, looking down at a burning fire. She sighed a little, feeling a weird loss despite the fact that she'd see them soon.

She turned, and walked towards Fred's seat. He seemed to sense her unhappiness, and smiled at her as she sat on the arm rest.

"Right, that just leaves us two then." Hermione said, clapping her hands.

"Bye Mum." Hugo mumbled from his chair, clearly trying to copy Fred's behaviour. Rose, on the other hand, jumped up towards her Mum, and put her arms round her.

"Bye Mum."

And then she turned to her Dad, to hug him goodbye, and he turned and stepped into the fire, leaving her staring into flames. It happened so quickly that Roxy had to blink a few times to realise what had happened. She felt Fred move uncomfortably in his seat, and saw her other cousins looking around awkwardly.

Hermione just sighed, and turned to her daughter.

"Rose, I'll talk to him. The article just scared him a little."  
Rose didn't reply, she nodded and her Mum stepped into the fire, leaving only the atmosphere behind.

The children only stared at Rose in silence, and she turned around and sighed before bursting into tears.

Wordlessly, Fred and Roxy stood up and joined their cousins, who had all put their arms around Rose.

"It'll be ok." Dom said reassuringly.

And Roxy had a feeling that, despite everything, Dom was right; it would be ok.

Because they were a family again. And she had a feeling that they might fight to keep it that way.


	37. Looking Up

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updates; I've been unusually busy and been far too easily distractible (seen A Very Potter Musical? You have to)... Anyways...

I'm so pleased with the response to the last chapter! 30 reviews; it's incredible. Also, thanks to anonymous reviewer _Just Me_. As always; thank you all for reading/reviewing/alerting/favouriting...

So, yeah, everyone seems to be glad the family drama is over... Note I say _family _drama; there's a little more Croxy (one of my reviewers totally called them Croxy and I loved it...) drama to come. ;) What's life without a little drama?

_**Disclaimer:**__ JK Rowling created the wonderful HP universe; God I wish it was real...

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Seven- Looking Up)**

Despite her family now being happily reunited, Rose was still unhappy. All because of her father.

She always knew he'd have a problem with her and Scorpius. Even before, when she'd just dreamed of them getting together, she'd known that if it ever did happen her Dad would kill her; she'd practically used it as an excuse. _"Me and Scorp could never be together because of our fathers." _For the last few months, she'd looked back on that and thought she was stupid; they were fully grown men, surely they couldn't still be holding a grudge? It turned out she was right before.

Of course, it wasn't just the Malfoy surname that had made her Dad angry. It was that article. That bloody article. Her Dad had, of course, panicked that she was going to be giving birth to a Malfoy in a few months, and become dead set against them being together. She would think that his reaction was fair, if it was true.

"Ro-ose?" Dom sang from her side. Rose turned and saw Dom looking at her expectantly. "You alright?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yeah, just thinking." She smiled sadly, then looked back at... wherever she had been looking before.

Her family was ridiculous; less than 3 hours ago they'd been yelling at each other and stressing out about being expelled, and now they were sat in their normal seats, joking about everything in the article and laughing like nothing had ever happened. But something had happened; and Rose was now pretty sure she'd never be _Daddy's little girl _again.

"Oh my god, you're back!"

Anna's voice rang through the noise in the common room from the portrait hole. She was stood, looking classically perfect without even trying as always, with two boys by her side; one of them was Jake, the other was Scorp.

"Hey babe, where've you guys been?" Fred shouted, kneeling up on the sofa, clearly enjoying that the entire common room had now gone quiet and was watching them; he was such an attention seeker.

"Creating the _'Weasleys+1_' club, what do you think we've been doing?" she asked sarcastically, walking over and sitting on the arm rest of the sofa. "We've been waiting for you losers!"

"Where?"  
"Downstairs!"

"Oh. Well we've been up here for like an hour now so-"  
"I hate you." She replied, glaring at her boyfriend jokingly. Fred replied by grabbing her by the waist and pulling her off the arm rest and on top of him.

Jake had moved and was now sat next to Lily, kissing the top of her head, but Scorpius was still stood at the edge of the family.

"Sit down, mate." James told him, signalling to the empty seat next to Rose.

"Y-you sure?" Scorp asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, I'm sure." James smiled. "I actually need to apologise to you for everything."  
"It's fine." Scorp replied, sitting next to Rose on her sofa.

"No, it's not. Seriously I'm so sorry for the way I treated you."

Rose smiled at her cousin appreciatively, watching how easy it all was and wishing everything could be so simple.

"I'm sorry to you too, Jake." James said, turning his head.

Jake just shrugged, seemingly too busy twisting his fingers with Lily's.

Al cleared his throat, and turned from his seat on the floor to look up at Scorpius. "I'm sorry for being the worst best friend ever."  
"You don't need to be. I said stuff too."  
"Call it even?"

Scorp nodded, and held out his hand, which Al then shook.

She was jealous of the simplicity of it all.

Fred and James returned to Quidditch conversation, and the rest of the family joined in. Except Scorp, who turned and looked into Rose's eyes.

"You okay? What happened?"  
She shrugged. "I'm fine. And I'll tell you later."

He raised his eyebrows disbelievingly.

"You don't look fine."

"Well, I am." She lied.

She couldn't explain what happened. Not to him; he'd feel too guilty for something that wasn't his fault, and she couldn't put that pressure on him.

He still looked at her sceptically, and she shifted in her seat under his gaze.

"I'm going to bed." She sighed, standing up and avoiding looking at her boyfriend who stared after her confusedly.

"Rose, it's not ten yet..." Fred pointed out.  
"I don't care what time it is." She sighed, heading upstairs.

She thought one of them might follow her; they all knew how upset she was. But they didn't; they returned to their own conversation, and laughed at a joke Fred made.

The laughter echoed up the stairway.

Yeah, for every other member of her family things were looking up but for Rose, things were worse now that they had ever been before.

...

James loved sitting at the table for breakfast with his family. It was a stupid little thing to appreciate, but he really did love it.

He hadn't realised how much he'd missed it until he got it back. Sure, he knew he'd missed his family, but he'd thought he'd only missed them because it was normal and he was used to it, but no; he'd missed laughing at the way Roxy ate her cereal, and the fact that Rose and Hugo were always in equally bad moods in the morning and only cared about the food they ate. He'd missed the fact that Fred was always disturbingly awake, and wouldn't rest until everyone else was, or that Dom would always fiddle with her hair all the way through breakfast. Louis claimed he was best at flirting in the morning, so would always be randomly winking at girls and Lily would always be there first and last. He'd not missed having his family to rely on and make him look cool; he'd missed just having them there.

"Right, what's everyone's plan for Sunday then?" Fred asked, energetically.

"Work."  
"Work."  
"Work."  
"Work."  
Scorpius, Rose, Roxy and Dom replied in sync.

"Ok, so what about the ones of us who aren't complete geeks?" Roxy glared up at Fred, then continued to pour her milk off her spoon and eat the remaining cereal.

"Nothing, really. James, you could always hold Quidditch practice?" Al suggested.

"Great idea, Al!" Fred said, nodding and turning to James, looking excited.

Sometimes James thought that Fred would be a better captain that James, just for pure enthusiasm.

"I actually already have something I need to do today." James replied, looking at Fred apologetically. He did look disappointed; he clearly had a lot of free time now he and Anna weren't allowed to be alone together.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Dom asked nosily.

"I was thinking of, maybe, going to find Louisa." He mumbled.

Roxy looked up from her cereal again. "Really?"  
"Yeah, I owe her an apology. Or, you know, a million apologies."

He felt guilty about a million things that had happened recently, but breaking up with Louisa was on the top of his list. He felt so stupid that after years of wanting and waiting for her, he'd given up on them so easily...

Roxy nodded. "I know where she is."

"Where?"  
"Seventh year library."

James looked at Fred questioningly. "There's a seventh year li-?"  
"Second floor, near the astronomy tower." She replied, before returning to eating.

James bit his lip. "Do you think she wants to see me?" he asked quietly. On reflection, he wasn't sure who he asked, but Dom replied anyway.

"Yes. Definitely. If nothing else she wants to yell at you but-"  
"She really needs to talk to you." Anna interrupted, shrugging. "She's hardly mentioned you at all; sure sign she misses you."  
"Can't say I have any idea why..." Fred joked.

"Oi! Who won hottest sixth year guy last year?"  
"I came second!"  
"Yeah, but it's not winning, is it babe?" Anna pointed out, nudging Fred in the ribs as he pouted.

James laughed, then turned and noticed that the area around them was now significantly emptier.

Rose, Scorpius and Al had disappeared at some point, as had Jake, Lily, Louis and Hugo.

"Right, I'm going to find Louisa." He sighed, standing up and trying to sound confident.

"Good luck." Fred smiled. "We'll meet you in the common room, yeah?"  
James nodded, then headed out of the hall. He was amazingly optimistic about this conversation; he just had a feeling everything would be alright after he'd sorted everything out with Louisa. It'd all go back to normal, and be perfect again. He swore to himself he'd appreciate it so much more than he did before.

Of course, as he walked he heard gossip buzzing around him. There had been another article in the prophet, with his father denying all the false claims in Saturday's issue and asking for respect of his family. Of course, it didn't work.

Mainly because his Dad had said _"I spoke to the children yesterday."_

"Potter, was your Dad actually in here yesterday?" Someone yelled. "Damn, I could've got his autograph!"

James rolled his eyes and continued to walk in the direction of the astronomy tower, and then up a set of stairs that he swore hadn't been there before.

At the top of the stairs was a wooden door, which he assumed would take him to the seventh year library.

He opened it, and saw he was right. The room was similar to the common room; it had large armchairs and coffee tables around, but books were lining the walls.

It was completely empty, apart from one beautiful girl with her head buried in a book.

"So this is what a library looks like." He joked quietly, unsure of how else to alert her of his presence.

She turned, and her eyes hit his. He just stared into them, feeling guilty that he had ever made tears cloud her eyes.

"James." She said simply before closing her book and standing up slowly.

He took a few steps towards her. "Louisa I-"

"I don't want to talk, James." She shrugged, beginning to walk towards the door.

He automatically grabbed her hand.

"Yeah, and I don't want you to hate me."  
"I don't." She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't hate you."

He nodded. Something was so different about her, and he couldn't work it out. She didn't seem angry, like he'd expected, she just seemed tired and something else James couldn't identify…

He decided to just say what he wanted to say, and be done with it.

"I'm so sorry, for everything. I know you did the right thing with Rose, and I-"  
"Don't, James." She said simply, looking down at the floor and pulling her hand from his.

And then he realised that the emotion in her that he didn't recognise was sadness. She bit her lip, and shook her head. "Just, don't. We're ok, James, I just can't talk to you right now-"  
"Well then that means we're not ok." He took her hands from her sides and clung to them. "I know I was wrong, and I'm so sorry for what I did. But Lou, I love you. And I just need you to forgive me so that I can prove it to you for the rest of our lives."

She blinked and a single tear trickled down her face from her overflowing eyes.

"I... I wish you'd come to me sooner." she sighed, pressing her lips together as if to stop herself sobbing.

"I know I took too long, but I'm saying it now; I love you. And I was stupid. I was stupid and protective and all you were doing was trying to look after a girl who came to you for help. I can see that now-"

She interrupted him so quickly that he took seconds to register what she'd said.

"You... What?" He felt her hands slipping from his, unsure of whether he'd let go or she'd tugged them away.

"Don't make me say it again." She shook her head, her eyes flooding with tears and choking back sobs.

"I didn't hear you." he lied, trying to hide his anger or heartbreak or betrayal or whatever he was feeling.

"I slept with Craig."


	38. Not As It Seems

Hey! What time is it? It's update time.

Wow, that was weird, let's not talk about that again...

Anyway, thank you so much to all the reviewers and alerters and favouriters. It means so much to me! It's the reason I've been sat up here for 5 hours straight writing. :L

Thanks to the following anonymous reviewers: _James' fan, blky, Dani_ and _rita_ - glad I shocked you all with the ending!

…And enjoy!

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter isn't mine! Sadtimes.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Eight- Not As It Seems)**

Lily couldn't remember having ever been this happy; she had an amazing boyfriend, cool friends, and now her family were actually getting on; breakfast this morning had been just like every other morning. To make it better, she'd managed to keep out of the article completely, and her parents hadn't even found out about her and Jake.

See, it wasn't that she didn't want her parents to know about him, but she wanted to stay as her Dad's little girl for as long as possible. And especially now she'd seen the way the fathers had looked at their daughters so disappointedly earlier, she'd decided to put off telling her Dad about Jake for as long as possible; she loved her Dad too much to give him up.

She skidded down the corridor, she was running so fast. Then she ran out to the courtyard and headed towards where she'd agreed to meet Jake.

He wasn't on his own; he was with some of his fifth year guy friends. They were his and Louis' _crew_, really.

Old Lily surfaced again; she stopped in her tracks and watched them chatting, not wanting to embarrass Jake or herself.

Then she heard her name and she found herself stepping lightly on her feet, until she'd hidden herself around the corner from them.

She was such a loser.

"I couldn't believe it when Louis told me you're going out with Lily, mate."

She didn't know whether she should be offended or pleased, so she just carried on listening.

She felt almost guilty, to be listening in to what Jake was saying, but she wanted to hear what people had to say about them.

"Yeah, I don't think you could do much better. First you're best friends with Weasley, and then you went and got Potter!"

Got... Lily looked around confusedly for a second.

"I wouldn't say that, I just-"  
"Seriously, Harry Potter's daughter! If you two get married you're going to go down in history-"  
"Well yeah, but we're not getting married so-"  
"You have to admit, it's going to pretty cool to meet The Boy Who Lived."  
"Come on, admit it, that's a big reason why you're with her-"  
"What? No. I'm-"  
"A little reason."  
"No! Look, it's cool to be going out with a Potter, sure, but that's not the main reason why-"  
"Admit it, you're looking forward to meeting the Weasleys."  
"Yeah, I am-"  
"I knew it. Can't see any other reason you'd go out with a fourth year."

"Well how about that-?"  
"How about that her parents are the coolest people in the world. Admit that they'd be cool in-laws-"  
Jake sighed, seemingly resigned to the situation, or giving up pretending. "Obviously; being anything to do with the Potters or the Weasleys is wicked."

Lily didn't stay to hear the rest of it. She turned, her eyes filled with tears, and tried to walk back to the castle without falling over as she stared through her tears.

And she swore to herself that she would never again believe in perfection; it didn't exist. Not for Lily, at least.

**...**

Everything was back the way it was meant to be.

Fred was sat in his seat, with Anna on his knee, Dom on the armchair and Roxy and Craig sat next to the fireplace being geeks and doing homework.

It was _exactly_ the way everything was meant to be.

"Do you know, Frederick, I think you'd look good if you died your hair black." Anna commented, running her hands through his hair.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah, that way you'd look more like James!"  
Fred raised his eyebrows in a jokey-threatening way.

"Kidding! Kidding, I'm totally kidding. I prefer second to first any day."

She smiled as she leaned in and kissed him, her hands no longer running through his hair and instead resting on his shoulders.

This was what he was going to miss; being physically close to Anna. It was the only way he could really show how much she meant to him; he was rubbish with words and explaining his feelings but somehow, when he kissed her, he just had a feeling that she understood it all without him needing to speak.

But it was ok, because he was close to her now. His chest was pressed against hers and she had moved to bite on his bottom lip a little.

He could last with just kissing... at least for a few weeks.

"Oi!"

Reluctantly (almost painfully) Fred broke away from his girlfriend and looked at Dom.

"There are little kids around you know; I think when McGonagall banned us from sharing rooms it wasn't so we could watch a live sex show!"

Anna sighed, sliding off Fred's knee onto the sofa.

"The sex show would've been fun." Fred mumbled jokingly, causing Anna to hit him but then raise her eyebrows at him suggestively.

Merlin, he loved her.

Yep, everything was the way it was meant to be.

That was until he glanced at the portrait hole and saw James climbing through it.

You see, he knew it was naive, but he really hoped James and Louisa would get back together. They were indescribably perfect for each other, and always had been. Fred had always hoped they would get together, but then James had to be all stupid and break up with her... God, that boy was stupid.

One look at him told Fred that "Lames" would not be getting back together. James was shaking; physically shaking. His fists were clenched and he was storming towards them.

"James what...?" Roxy asked, looking up at him and putting her books down.

The second she spoke, James stopped looking as angry. He looked shocked, somehow, and just stared down and Roxanne and Craig.

"You two made up?" he said intensely. Fred could've been wrong, but he could've sworn that James' eye line wasn't heading towards Roxy's; he was looking at Craig.

"Yeah, it's great isn't it?" Roxy replied, smiling at Craig in a sickening way.

Sure, Fred was happy his sister was happy and everything, but he just didn't like them as a couple for some reason. He never had. Especially when he used to have to spend hours on end with just the two of them in the holidays; they just bored him. They didn't seem to have fun like he and Anna did, they were just constantly soppy and sweet with each other.

"In fact," Roxy said, standing up. "I'm going to get my stuff from Dom's and move back our dorm."

Dom smiled at her supportively, and Roxy just beamed. She started to walk towards the stairs before James said her name quietly.

"Roxy can I talk to you for a second?"

She turned, and looked back at him confusedly.

"Why?" she asked, raising her eyebrows suspiciously.

"Look, can we just-"

"What's wrong, James?" Roxy asked worriedly.

James turned around, no longer facing Roxy. "Maybe Craig can tell you." he said quietly, looking down at the boy sat by the fireplace. Craig seemed to wriggle uncomfortably.

"What's going on Craig?" Roxy asked quietly over James' shoulder.

"I don't know." He was clearly lying, and Dom looked over at Fred as if to ask him if he knew what was going on. Fred shook his head wordlessly; of course he didn't know, he was always last to know.  
"Oh, really?" James shouted.

Craig jumped to his feet. "Listen, James can I have a word with you-"

"NO!" James yelled. Fred launched himself off the sofa and stood next to James.

"Calm down, mate." He said quietly. He didn't want a Scorpius or Jake repeat; he didn't want to have to fall out with his best friend again. He had a feeling, though, that James was justified in his behaviour somehow.

"James, what happened?" He asked in an attempt to understand.  
James shook his head slowly. "I-I talked to Louisa-"  
"James..." Craig stepped towards him, and Fred looked up and glared at him. He could tell Craig was trying to hide something; everyone could tell. Especially Roxy, judging by her fast breathing from behind him.

"What's going on?" She asked nervously, walking forwards so she was next to James, and folding her arms.

"Tell her." James ordered.

Craig shook his head, his eyes wide.

"Tell me what?"

James and Craig seemed to stare at each other for a moment. Craig seemed to be begging James for something, and James seemed to be refusing.

"He slept with my girlfriend."

James said it so simply that it could've been "_He ate my toast_" or _"He stole my homework"_, but there was no such luck; James just said that Craig cheated on Roxy.

Everything seemed to slow down; Roxy gasped slowly, Dom's mouth fell open and she ran to her cousin, James' anger seemed to dissolve, and he instead just looked broken…

The only person running in real time it seemed, was Craig, who shook his head furiously and threw his hands to his head.

Fred instantly stared at his sister, hoping and praying that the twin thing would work and he could silently calm her down and tell her... tell her what, he wondered? That everything was going to be ok? Judging by her face it certainly wasn't.

"What?" Roxy whispered.

"It... It was a mistake, Rox."  
"A mistake? How can you accidentally-?"

"You and me had fallen out and then you didn't come back to the dorm so-"  
"Oh so it's my fault because I thought I could leave my best friend and boyfriend alone! Sorry!" Roxy shouted. Dom was holding her shoulders, and glaring crazily at Craig.

"She was upset about James-"  
"Don't you dare blame this on him!" Fred found himself shouting, his anger building with every excuse Craig tried to hit them with.

"Rox, I'm so sorry."

"Don't!"

Roxanne was never a girl who cried. Fred was her brother, and had still only seen her cry about four times in their life. Even when she was younger, and she'd fall over and cut her knee open, she still wouldn't cry. She was strong like that; Fred admired her so much for it.

The second he saw tears in her eyes, he could've killed Craig for putting them there.

Fred's hand was grasped around his wand before he really knew it. And he pulled it out and pointed it at Craig, thinking of the worst curse he knew.

"Fred don't." Anna was surprisingly calm, and placed her hands on Fred's wand. "He's not worth it."  
"Get out." Fred said simply to Craig, still debating whether to curse him into oblivion.

"Look, Rox, if you just let me explain-"  
"That's not getting out!" Fred yelled.

"Roxy-"  
"Go." She said quietly, before turning and running up the girls' stairs, Anna and Dom following wordlessly.

It was just Fred, Craig and James.

"James I-"  
"How can you even talk to him?" Fred yelled. "I mean it; stay away from everyone in this family."

James shook his head silently, and turned and left up the dorm stairs.

Fred glared at Craig one final time, and turned to run after his best friend.

Never mind James, Fred was trying to process the events of the last few minutes. Craig had cheated on his sister. With his cousin's girlfriend. He... Fred suddenly understood what James' had meant when he'd mentioned a monster taking over him.

Somehow he wasn't angry the second he saw James in their dorm, lying on his bed and staring upwards blankly. "Mate, are you-?"

"Ok? No." James sat up tiredly, and Fred just blinked back, feeling helpless. What was he meant to say to him?

This was where McGonagall's stupid rule was useless, Fred thought to himself; if Dom was allowed up here she'd know what to say to their broken cousin.

"She slept with him, Fred. She said she was waiting for someone special and then she-"

"I'm so sorry."  
"Why? You didn't sleep with him, did you?" James joked pointlessly, and Fred laughed weakly in response.

"I'm just sorry we convinced you that you were the bad guy in all of this, while she was-"  
"She was perfect." He sighed. "This would never have happened if I hadn't broken up with her-"  
"That doesn't make it ok, James! For once, you're in the right here. She's the one who messed up!"

He shook his head, and Fred sighed uselessly, sitting down on his trunk.

It was like he said, he was useless with words. Totally and completely useless.


	39. Good For Nothing

Hey guys! Sorry it's taken so long for me to update; I've been a little busy with 6 exams this week! But I do appreciate all the reviews and all the alerts and all the favourites; I can't even describe how much they mean to me!  
I need 14 more favourites to hit 100- reckon you can do it for me guys?

Anyways, as always quick mention to the anonymous reviewers: _rita, just me, james' fan, Magical Singer Gal_ and someone who didn't even have a name but gave seriously awesome reviews!

I will update soon; but obviously exams are a nightmare at the moment.

_**Disclaimer:**__I still don't own Harry Potter. Still. It's heart breaking.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Thirty Nine- Good For Nothing)**

There was something wrong with Rose. That much was obvious.

What Scorpius didn't know was what it was.

He assumed it wasn't anything to do with her family, as they all seemed to be friends again. He knew she was upset about that article, but he had a feeling that wasn't what this was about… For once, he couldn't read her like another book.

She'd gone to bed last night, leaving Scorpius alone with her family. Her family who had previously been desperate to murder him in varying ways. If Rose hadn't seemed so upset he would've almost been mad at her. In the end though, the evening had been ok; the family had some sort of new rules which meant they had to go to bed early, and Scorpius found himself in his room with Al like normal at ten thirty. For a Saturday night, that was weird. But then they'd eaten breakfast together like normal, and Rose was back at his side and seemingly ok. Just as quiet and moody as she always was in the mornings.

He'd thought everything was ok again, but then on the way up to the common room he had literally turned to see that Rose wasn't by his side.

"Where did she go?" he asked Al, who shrugged as his useless reply.

Scorpius shook his head, and turned around to see if she was behind them.

Nope, there was no sign of Rose in the crowd, just a lot of second and third years.

"You've got no idea what's up with her do you?" he dared to ask. He was still wary of talking about Rose around Al, scared of pushing him over the edge again.

He desperately wanted to know what was wrong with her, so he could help her, and Al was a sure way to find this out. He was a rubbish liar. In fact, none of the Weasleys were any good at being untruthful; Dom stuttered, Rose bit her lip, Lily cried, Hugo over-exaggerated, Roxy folded her arms, Fred laughed, James cleared his throat, Louis shuffled and Al looked everywhere but into the eyes of the person he was lying to.

"Nope." He replied, seemingly amazed by the window. "No idea..."  
"Really?" Scorpius replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Nope; not a clue."

Scorpius almost laughed, Al was so bad at lying.

"Come on, tell me."

Al sighed, folding his arms. "You should just talk to her!" he demanded.  
"Oh yeah, I'll just chat with my invisible girlfriend shall I?" Scorpius replied, joking a little and gesturing to the gap between the two of them where Rose had been.  
Al smiled dimly, then nodded. "Ok, fine, but you're not allowed to freak out or feel bad."  
"O...k." Scorpius replied cautiously; being told not to freak out was never a good way to tell anyone anything.  
"Her Dad's not talking to her, at all because of everything in that article; he didn't even say goodbye to her yesterday."  
"That's my fault." Scorpius replied simply, staring at his best friend.

"No! It's her fault, I mean... it's no one's fault exactly. You know, if you really want someone to blame, blame the parents. If the whole grudge thing wasn't going down then Uncle Ron'd probably be fine with hearing that his only daughter's having a child... Wait, no; it is a little bit you two's fault."

Al's little babble had seemingly ended with a joke, but Scorpius didn't laugh; why would he, when it wasn't funny?

This was all his fault, all him and his stupid surname.

Scorpius knew Rose better than he knew anyone in the world; unlike him, she got on with her father. She loved him and needed him and relied on him. Scorpius could never pretend to know how that felt, and how it felt to lose that safety. He only really loved one person in the world; Rose and trying to imagine what it would be like to lose her hurt too much to think of. To lose the way she made him feel safe and loved and alive... and she must be losing that; or something similar to that.

And it was all because of him.

"Scorpius, it's really not your fault-"  
He shrugged. "That's just not true."

Knowing that Rose was hurting made him want to run and find her, hold her and tell her that it'd all be ok. But she told himself that she wouldn't want him to do that; not when he was the reason she was hurting.

Sighing, he carried on walking towards Gryffindor tower.

"Mate, are you alright?" Al asked.

Unable to lie, he silently shook his head.

How was he meant to help the girl who meant everything to him, when she was losing everything that meant anything to her because of him?

And why was everything always so complicated?

...

Louis loved Hogwarts.

In Hogwarts he knew he was in charge. He tried to pretend like he wasn't aware of it, but he was the coolest guy in his year without even trying. Every guy wanted to be him; every girl wanted to date him. Life was amazing.

Admittedly, this was due to his family, but he found himself not caring; the rest of his family milked their surnames, why not him?

He put his hands on the back of his head, leaning back on his chair in Weasley corner.

"Hi Louis." Some hot brunette waved at him as she walked past, and Louis smiled back approvingly. Somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, he knew her; he might've even gone out with her. But one girl merged with another, and they all melted into the part of his mind that just didn't really care.

It sounded harsh, saying he didn't care about people, but it was true; aside from his family, he wasn't really bothered what happened to anyone else, other than his best friend. Jake was definitely up there on the list of people he cared about.

"Louis, are you ever actually listening?" Dom asked impatiently.  
"Eh?" Louis asked back annoyingly.

"I said, can you go upstairs and get James to come down please?"

"Why should I?" Louis replied, echoing her stupid sarcastic slow tones.

"Because I'm not allowed! And Roxy wants to talk to him."

"Well Roxy's not here, is she?"

His sister seemed to have now have had enough; she stomped her foot, turned and walked towards some random sixth or seventh year guys and twirled her hair.

It was a little sickening to see Dominique being quite as slutty as she was because she wasn't ever like that in France; she was pretty cool when it was just her, Louis and Victoire. But around the rest of the Weasleys and in Hogwarts she seemed to act like someone she wasn't. Or she just acted as herself, and she was fake in France... either way, she was like Quirrel and Voldy; two faced.

Minutes later the two boys had nodded in obedience, and headed up the dorm stairs.

"See; they're useful!" Dom said angrily, turning and stomping towards her stairs. Then she stopped, and stared at the portrait hole. "Lily!" she exclaimed, and Louis followed her eye line to see a crying Lily by the entrance.

His family was always so _dramatic_, Louis complained to himself.

Lily seemed to practically float towards Dom and then Dom hugged her silently.

"Lils I'm sorry but I... I need to..." Dom stepped away from her crying cousin. "Louis, look, Roxy's upstairs but can you just talk to..." her voice trailed away as she gestured to Lily, and then she turned and ran up the stairs.

His sister was such a jackass sometimes, just leaving Lily for Roxanne. Although he had a feeling that something was happening with his older cousins that he didn't know about; none of them were any where to be found.

Annoyingly, seeing as there were no other family members around, Louis had to be the supportive good guy even though he was kind of rubbish at that.

"Hey... Lils?" Louis said, standing up and walking towards her a little.

She shook her head, and turned.

"Hey, wait, no. Er, what happened?" he asked, feeling kind of stupid. Why didn't he just let her go upstairs and cry it off until Jake came back from wherever he was?

And then he realised; Jake was supposed to be with Lily. He remembered being kind of annoyed that his best friend was ditching him to hang out with his girlfriend.

So why was Lily on her own? And why was she crying?

"Where's Jake?" He asked dumbly.

Lily sighed. "Down in the courtyard... with..." her voice shook and she shook her head.

Louis, realising that they were in the way of a few Gryffindors and people were starting to listen to their conversation (it happened far more often since the article), grabbed her hand without thinking and pulled her to their corner of the common room.

She looked shocked; maybe she was shocked that Louis was looking after her? Louis was a little surprised too, to be honest.

"What happened? What did Jake do?"  
She bit her lip, wiping her tears away and sighing. "He was talking to your stupid friends and he said that..."

"What did he say?"

"He said he was only with me because of my surname." She said, simply. Her tears had seemingly vanished; she just looked hurt now.

Louis' shook his head. "Nah, Jake's not like that-"  
"Well he said it didn't he?"

He blinked back. "Are you sure? I mean, that he meant what he said-"  
"His friends kept going on about how he _'Got Potter'_ and then they said something about my parents being good in laws and they mentioned being best friends with a Weasley and I-"

He shook his head, his trust in his best friend somehow being far stronger than that of his fourteen year old cousin. "He won't have meant it."  
"He said it!" she said slowly. "People don't say things they don't mean..."  
Wow, his little cousin really was as naive as people said.

"Lily. Sit down, ok?"

Surprisingly, she obeyed and sat down on one of the sofas near James' seat.

"Right, people don't always mean what they say."  
"But-"  
"Lily, people are liars! People say things to make others happy; to protect them or just to shut them up! And Jake...you mean a lot more to him than just your surname. He always talks about you when you're not around; it's every single night before we go to sleep."

This was the annoying truth. It was grating on Louis now, and his roommates. They had half a mind to curse him so he wouldn't be able to keep them up all night any more.

"But... but Louis, what if all of that's a lie? What if he's just _saying _that, to keep you as his friend, and was being himself with the other guys?"  
She had a point but again, somehow Louis just had to defend him.

"He's not fake, Lils, you know that. He just... Lils he's popular. And sometimes when you're up here you have to say the stuff people want to hear."

She nodded, still seemingly not believing him.

"I just..."  
"Look, I wouldn't say this if it wasn't true; he's crazy about you and if he knew you were upset or hurting or anything he'd feel so guilty. He didn't mean it; I know that much."  
She smiled, the light coming back to her eyes again.

"Of course, I don't know why he's so mad about you; you're my cousin for merlin's sake!"  
Lily laughed a little. "Thanks Louis. You know, you're pretty good at the cheering up thing."  
"I'll try and remember that." He replied, mentally adding it to his list of skills. "Right, so listen, do you not think you should go find him? He's probably still waiting, that loser."

Lily nodded, then awkwardly put her arms around Louis, hugged him goodbye, and walked away.

Louis never hugged his cousins; somehow it just never seemed to happen. He hated hugging anyway, it was all just a fake way to show emotional closeness. Unless he was hugging some really hot girl.

When Lily was gone Louis smiled, feeling proud of himself.

He'd actually managed to help someone else; miracles did happen.

After being so sure for so long that all he had going for him was his popularity, he was beginning to wonder if there was more to him then joking and girls. Maybe he could be good for something else as well; like being there for his family.


	40. Too Easily Fixed

Evenin' all. Only four exams left; this makes me glad.

Anyways, didn't get as many reviews for that chapter... I realise it wasn't as good as normal but still; where have you all gone? I'd quite like to get to 600 before I update again; that would make me really happy. :D And I still need 11 favourites to hit 100. *hint hint*

Thanks to anonymous reviewers: _James' fan_ and _Dani_. Hope I replied to all the rest of you successfully; my email review alerts haven't been getting sent to me. Mystery...

Hope you like this chapter, I think I do. Think being the operative word.

_**Disclaimer: **__They may have finished filming HP today, but it still hasn't fallen into my possession!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty- Too Easily Fixed)**

The truth was that Dom had known that it was all too good to be true.

With her family seemingly alright, it had given her chance to go over everything in her head and work out what to do about Victoire... But no, Dom would never be able to worry about her own problems; she was always looking after someone else.

Over a week had gone by, and the situation had just gotten worse. James was hardly speaking and Fred was constantly worried about his sister and his best friend. The younger ones were seemingly oblivious, only really caring about Roxy as, out of everyone, Roxy was the most broken. Somehow she'd managed to not go to any meals in the whole week (they wondered how she was possibly surviving) and only went to lessons that Craig or Louisa wouldn't be in; which left only muggle studies. Today, Dominique and Anna had been cornered by McGonagall and asked about Roxy's behaviour, and had made up some excuse that she was ill. It wasn't a complete lie; she might be healthy, but she wasn't alright. She wasn't sleeping, eating, speaking... she would just lie in her old bed, staring ahead at the curtains. Dom and Anna had run out of things to say to her, and couldn't work out how to behave around her, so had instead resorted to avoiding their room. Maybe it wasn't the best way to support her, but they couldn't handle seeing her like that.

Roxy had always been the stronger one; while the other girls would cry about break ups or rumours Roxy would just laugh them off or smile and say that "_it could be worse_". They'd always been the overly dramatic ones; she was the one that brought them back to Earth. Not now though; not this time.

"Rox?" Dom said quietly, turning over in her bed to look at her cousin, whose eyes weren't even closed in an attempt to go to sleep.

After a moment went by without a reply, Dominique spoke again. "Roxy?"  
"What?"

"I..." She wasn't sure what to say, but thankfully Anna saved her; Dominique hadn't even known the other girl was still awake until that moment.

"McGonagall asked us where you were today. We were thinking you should maybe try and go to lessons tomorrow?"

"Today." Roxy replied simply.

"What... what do you mean?"  
"It's gone midnight. You want me to go to lessons today."

"Yeah, we do." Anna said simply, sitting up and looking at Dominique warily, who also sat up and examined her cousin carefully.

Roxy seemed to think for a second, her brown eyes darting around the room a little, but then she shook her head.

"No. I can't. Not today, maybe tomorrow-"  
"You said that yesterday."

She sighed, sitting up and leaning her head against the wall. "How many times did you see them today?" she asked.

She hadn't mentioned Craig or Louisa, or anything that had happened, since that Sunday when she had questioned James like a crazy person. Since then she'd just cried or stared, but never mentioned why.

"I..."

"Did you speak to her?" Roxy asked.

Anna shook her head, as did Dom.

"Have you spoken to her at all since-?"  
"Yes. Last Monday we... we kind of yelled at her."

Roxy turned her head tiredly, and looked at them. "Yeah?" Understandably, she looked quite happy.

Dominique nodded, remembering last week and how they'd yelled at their ex-best friend for everything she'd done. And how Louisa had shook her head and cried and begged to speak to Roxy or James and apologised millions of times…Anna and Dom had just left, walking out of the toilets and leaving her alone in the girls' bathroom.

It had been almost too easy to choose their allegiance between their two best friends; the girl who'd cheated on their cousin with the other girls' boyfriend, or the girl who had been cheated on? No brainer.

None of them said a thing; Dominique just looked at her cousin worriedly until she spoke.

"How's James?" she asked, for the first time in a week or so.

"He's alright." Anna lied. Roxy must have looked at her sceptically, because Anna shook her head. "Not really. He's really angry about it all-"  
"But Rox, he's still going to lessons and breakfast and... Rox he's not stopped his life because of it."

Dom had said it before she'd thought about it, and guilt hit her the second Roxy looked at her. So she climbed out of her bed and sat on Roxy's quilt, reaching for her hand.

"Roxy, I know this is awful. I can't imagine how you must be feeling, but Rox you have to... you have to go out, you have to eat, you have to move o-"  
"If you say move on I'll kill you." Roxy said staring into her eyes. For a moment her stern look made her look almost impossibly like her mother; there was none of her Dad's laughter in her eyes and it was scary.

"Roxy-"  
"Just because it's never taken you longer than 3 minutes to get over someone doesn't mean all of us Weasleys are the same." She said simply, glaring.

"Roxy!" Anna said, getting out of bed.

Dom shook her head at her friend, and turned to her cousin. "I know I can't understand how you feel; I've never felt about anyone the way you felt about Craig." She lied.

Roxanne didn't reply.

"But Roxy... Rox, you're being pathetic. Remember, whenever we got upset and you said we were stupid and everything _'could be worse'_? Roxy, that's true now. He's one stupid guy, and she's one pathetic girl but you have us; you have your family and your friends. They don't matter."  
After finishing her speech (which she had been mentally preparing for days now) Dom sighed quickly, but didn't lose eye contact with Roxy, however worried she may now be about the reaction.

"You're right." Roxy nodded. Dom smiled a little, and turned to look at Anna, who was smiling proudly. "You're so right."

Dominique had never been right in her life; not where Roxy was concerned; Roxy would always teach her, not the other way around. She was proud of herself, for helping her cousin.

But somehow, deep inside, she couldn't help but hate that she'd helped; she'd liked not being the most pathetic for a little while.

...

Albus hated his middle name. Severus; what was all that about?

He swore his parents must've hated him; giving him the only bad name in the family. The other two were both lucky; named after his Grandparents and his Dad's Godfather and friends. Who was Al named after? Some old guy, and the guy who'd been a complete jackass to his Dad in his school years, because he'd been in love with his Grandma.

Yeah, Al got real unlucky with the naming. Although, he wondered if it was worse than Hugo; there were rumours he was named on one of the rare days Hermione and Ron had drunk too much firewhiskey.

"Hey, what you thinking?" Maddie asked, nudging him.

"Honestly? I'm thinking about how much I hate my middle name." Al replied, tilting his head at the list on the common room board.

"Oh. I thought you were being all deep and thinking about how old it makes you that you're learning apparition." She joked.

Al turned and smiled. "Nah, that'd require too much thinking." He joked, putting his arm around her shoulders. They both headed towards the portrait hole without speaking, and began to walk downstairs in the direction of the library; he, Rose, Scorpius and Maddie all had a free lesson on Tuesdays.

As he walked, he thought about what she'd said. Now she'd pointed it out, it did make them sound old that they were learning apparition. That was what you did when you were seventeen and when you were seventeen you were a grown up. Al wasn't sure he ever wanted to be an adult; it sounded so boring. But he only had 18 days left of being a child. He wasn't even sure when March had rolled around; it only seemed like yesterday since the bloody article had come out, or since the whole Louisa-Craig thing had happened.

James said apparition was easy. In the Christmas holidays after he passed, he and Dominique had deliberately annoyed Fred, Roxy and Al by clicking their fingers and just appearing in awkward and annoying places. Al wasn't particularly scared about learning it; he just didn't like what it meant. It meant that next year he'd have to be the oldest and then the year after he'd be out and working and... everything was going too fast, he thought.

He was pleased he wouldn't be alone in apparition, at least. Scorpius and Rose would be there and they would, of course, get it all right the first time; it was a shame Maddie couldn't be around to take the mess out of them with, but her birthday wasn't until June.

"You're thinking about it now, aren't you?" she asked, looking at him knowingly.

Al sighed tiredly. "How do you know me so well?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, really. Although Rose did once try to teach me about you-"  
"She did what? What did she say?"  
"Nothing much; don't bring up Quidditch because you don't shut up, and don't bring up muggle life because you get confused."

Al sighed. He was going to kill his cousin one day, not in the near future; she had enough going on at the moment, but he would get around to it eventually.

Rose and Scorpius weren't the same; everyone knew it. Even James had pointed it out, despite the fact he had the whole Louisa thing constantly on his mind. Rose was still upset about her father, and now Scorpius knew he was being ridiculously careful around her.

It was all Al's fault really, because he'd told Scorpius when he knew Rose wouldn't want him to.

And that was why he'd decided to fix it.

Admittedly, his plan could've gone disastrously wrong. Luckily, it didn't.

"Hey, you're not mad at us for talking about you, are you?" Maddie asked from his side.

Al turned his head and looked down at her.  
God, she was so pretty; looking too far into her eyes literally made him go dizzy.

"'Course not." He replied, kissing the top of her head. "I think it's cute that you can't forget me."

She bit her lip, and stopped walking, pulling him back by his hand.

"You don't forget me do you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in a jokey way.

"Never." He replied, before leaning down and kissing her properly this time.

He loved having her as a girlfriend, although he wasn't really sure how they'd gotten there.

It had just developed, and once the stupid newspaper thing was well and truly over he just put all his energy into her; she started as a distraction and developed into his girlfriend and he wasn't complaining.

"Albus Severus Potter!"

He really hated his middle name. Especially because it was only used when he was in trouble.

Reluctantly, he broke away from Maddie and turned to see McGonagall mere feet from them.

"Mr Potter, why are you not in class?"  
Al sighed. "I've got a free, professor, and we were just going to the library and-"  
"And what part of you thought that that behaviour was appropriate?"

"It wasn't Professor, I'm sorry and it won't happen again." He said dully.

She nodded sharply. "Glad to hear it, Potter. Now, go to the library; frees are for studying."

The Headmistress walked past them, and Al grumbled when she was out of earshot. "You don't get into trouble; how's that fair?" he asked Maddie as they neared the library door.

"Because I'm the innocent little girl and you're Albus Severus Potter."

"Don't middle name me, Madeline Emily Fletcher!" he whined, opening the door for her.

She laughed as they entered the virtually silent room, where they both searched for their friends.

"Hey, where've you been?" Rose's whisper came from behind them once they were deeper into the library.

Al turned to see that Rose and Scorpius weren't even sat next to each other. They were diagonally opposite, in a kind of awkward distance. But it was alright, he told himself; Al had fixed it. He was so sure that everything was going to be fine with the two of them.

He wasn't even really sure why he cared so much about the two of them being together, especially when he'd complained so much about it for so long. Now, though, he couldn't imagine the two of them as just friends like they used to be; he'd look back now and could see that they were just being fake with each other. He didn't want it to go back to that; he didn't want everything to change all over again.

"We got told off by McGonagall." Maddie replied, sitting at the table.

"_'We_?' I did. She's got it in for me-"  
"She's got it in for all of us; she told Fred off for not having his shirt tucked in on Friday." Rose replied simply, folding her parchment.

"Still? The article was months ago..." Bless her, Maddie started talking but then stopped as she looked up to Rose.

Scorpius awkwardly messed up his hair, and Rose just shook her head tiredly.

"Ok, this ends now." Al said, possibly a little too loudly as he was shushed by a nearby lamp.

"What does?" Rose asked warily.

Al ignored her. "Scorpius, I wrote to my Dad and asked if I could invite you over to ours for Easter."

"What?" Rose exclaimed, seemingly not caring as Maddie looked at her in shock and Scorpius stared down at the table. "No, because my Dad'll-"

"But he told me Aunt Hermione said that you couldn't stay at mine."

Scorpius seemed to look a little dismayed, while Rose just continued to look worried.

"Because you're invited over to theirs."

"Where?" he asked, looking confused.

"Rose's. You're invited for the holidays."

Al smiled satisfactorily at his fixing skills, and turned and looked at Maddie proudly. She seemed to hold back a laugh when she saw his expression, and then they both turned to the other two.

Rose was just smiling at Scorpius, hopefully, and he looked back. For that second they were exactly as they always used to be.

Fixed. And it was all because of Albus Severus.


	41. Almost Expected

Hey hey, you you... yeah, I won't finish that song. Hope you're all ok!

I'm so so sorry that I haven't updated this week! Only one more exam to go! Teheheee. :D That makes me so happy.

Right, onto fic-world. Thank you so much for all your reviews (Guess who hit 600!) and (as always) thanks to anonymous reviewers: _rita, Dani_ (twice! :L), _geni, LucieeBabeex, James' fan_, _honeyluna, Diagonallyderanged_ (sorry I ruined your name!) and _Jaye_.

And thanks to favouriters! Six more to 100! :D Come on, you can do it; I believe in you all!

_**Disclaimer: **__Rupert Grint's new film is very good. However, he nor I are the owners/creators of Harry Potter.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty One- Almost Expected)**

Months had passed. Months had passed and Scorpius hadn't felt anything was getting any better. Admittedly, he couldn't feel it getting any worse, but he didn't like that it wasn't moving. Not moving meant bad things; he could swear that he could feel him and Rose drifting apart more and more each day.

He couldn't even remember when he'd last kissed her. Some point in February, when she'd been trying to prove everything was alright. It hadn't been alright though; it almost felt wrong. He never thought being with Rose would feel wrong.

He and Rose hadn't talked about Al's idea from yesterday; he and Rose didn't talk much lately.

That was until now, sat around in Weasley corner with her family and Roxy holding a pen in her hand.

"Right, Easter holidays; who's staying and who's going? The parents are nagging." She said simply, looking up and brushing her hair from her eyes.

"Well I'm going home." Lily replied instantly, leaning her head on Jake's shoulder.

"Really? I thought you'd be staying here with loverboy!" Fred joked, a little automatically.

Scorpius wasn't even part of the family, and he was worried about all of the older family members. Roxy was back, and acting as if nothing had ever happened; she was bossing them all about as much as she used to; she'd returned to her head girl duties and lessons as if she'd never been away. But even Scorpius saw her fake smile falter any time she saw or heard even a mention of Craig or Louisa. James wasn't as good at hiding; he seemed to just not have the energy to do it. He wasn't laughing or smiling or joking or being himself; he was just sat in his seat silently every evening until it was socially acceptable to go to bed. Fred had taken over his role as head of the family again, which he seemed to hate and he spent all of his time looking at his cousin and sister worriedly, as did Dominique. It was as if they were waiting for something to push the two of them over the edge, sending James into anger and Roxy back into depression. It was scarily inevitable.

"There's no point, when I'm going to Louis'." Jake replied, shrugging.  
"You're going to ours?" Dom asked. "So does that mean you're telling Uncle Harry about-?"  
"Nope." Lily replied. "No way; no one is saying anything to my Dad."  
"Why?" Louis whined. "We're rubbish at keeping secrets and it won't be that much of a big deal-"  
"Louis, if Lily says it's a secret, it's a secret." Jake told him sternly.

"Yeah, but what good'll that do-"  
"None. But that's what's happening. Unless you want to tell him for me?" Lily asked, in a mixture of hope and sarcasm.

"Nope, it's fine." Louis replied quickly, looking down at his feet.  
Lily was becoming louder and more assertive as every day passed; it was remarkable, really, if Scorpius remembered what she used to be like.

"Right, Rose, what're you doing?"

"Me and Hugo are going home." Rose replied from Scorpius' side, a little sadly. Scorpius wondered if she actually wanted to go home, or if she was just going because she was almost forced into it.

"Scorpius, you going to Al's?" Dom asked nosily.

He shook his head, but Al replied first.

"Nope, he's going to Rose's." Al said, proudly. He really thought he'd helped by organising this, but it hadn't seemed to have made anything any better. It had just meant that there were more things for Scorpius and Rose to worry about.  
"Oh really?" Hugo said, turning around and raising his eyebrows. "Well that's just bloody brilliant, isn't it?" He said sarcastically, before smiling at Scorpius to show he was joking and turning back around.

"Meeting the parents." James said quietly. "That's pretty serious."  
Rose nodded, and bit her lip. Scorpius could tell she was thinking, and almost expected it when she jumped up.

"Er..." her cousins were just looking at her confusedly, and Scorpius could understand why; he wished he could understand what she was thinking. "Um, Roxy you know where I'm going for Easter so I'm just going to, er..." She didn't finish her sentence; instead she just walked towards the portrait hole and left the common room.

The family seemed momentarily confused into silence, and Scorpius leant forward and put his head in his hands.

"Sorry, did I say something or-?" James asked quietly.

"No, it's fine." Scorpius replied, leaning back again.

They fell into awkward silence again, until Roxy decided to break it seemingly unable to handle quiet.

"So, Hugo you're going home..."

Scorpius stopped listening, and just sighed to himself.

A huge part of him wanted to chase after Rose, and... yell at her, maybe? Because she was making all of this so much harder than it needed to be; if she just told him what was wrong then he'd be able to help her out and try and make her feel better. But the stupid stubborn part of her that meant she wouldn't show weakness was seemingly winning over her rational thoughts…And all he wanted to do was make it ok.

He'd ignored this instinct to chase after her for months, figuring that she left because she didn't want him around, or that she just didn't want to talk. But after all this time, he realised ignoring his instincts wasn't doing him any good. So he found himself standing up and leaving as Rose had, without saying a word.

In the corridor, he turned and looked both ways to see if he could spot her. It was almost half eight and the corridors were empty, but she was nowhere to be seen.

It was alright though; she 'd be easy enough to find. She wasn't allowed in the room of requirement, and the library was closed. The great hall was shut up, all the classrooms were locked and you couldn't get out of the castle past eight. And she was a Weasley.

The kitchens.

Walking at a normal pace, so as not to get told off or noticed (people would just think he was on prefect duty) he headed down through the castle.

Weirdly, she hadn't gone inside. She was sat on the floor near the door to the kitchens, as if she hadn't quite made it. She was sobbing helplessly, and it broke Scorpius' heart to see her looking so desperate.

Wordlessly, since he wasn't sure what to say to her, he sat down by her.

She turned and sniffed.

"Are you here to break up with me?" she asked, wiping her tears a little.

"What? No, of course not. How could you think that-"  
"I would. I've been so distant and quiet and I'm sorry if I've been pushing you away it's just that I..." she began to sob again, so Scorpius reached out and put his arms around her.

"H-he's my Dad and I-"  
"I know." He said comfortingly, stroking her hair.

"No you don't. He-"  
"I know." He repeated, more meaningfully. She turned and looked up at him.

"You know?" she asked, blinking as her tears had seemingly disappeared.

"Yeah." He couldn't analyse the way she was looking at him; she could be angry or she could be sad. Or she could be happy; he couldn't work it out any more. "And I know it's my fault so-"  
"Scorp, it's not your fault." She sighed, smiling a little. To say he hated that nickname so much, he loved the fact she was saying _Scorp_ again. "It's our parents."

Scorpius was about to reply, but he wasn't sure what with. That was until the kitchen door creaked open and a little house elf scuttled out towards the two of them.

"Would Miss Weasley like some treacle tart?" the elf asked, as Scorpius resisted the urge to laugh at the fact the elves actually recognised the Weasleys.

Rose shook her head, and stood up using Scorpius shoulder, which meant he was kind of forced to stand up too.

"Nah, it's fine, we should be heading back."

And then she reached her hand out to Scorpius' and smiled.

He grinned back, taking her hand, before they began to walk back through the corridors.

He'd missed holding her hand. The way she would weave her freckled fingers between his was a better sensation than flying to him.

"I do love you." she said quietly, after a while of Scorpius just thinking about how much she meant to him. "I don't care about my stupid family or-"  
"I love you too." He replied simply.

He squeezed her hand in his, and she looked down at it then up at him. He turned his head to hers, stopping walking.

"So, Easter, huh?"

"Yeah, it should be interesting..." He offered.

"Nah. I think it'll be fun." She replied, before standing on her tiptoes and kissing him quickly on the lips. "Who cares what my Dad thinks?"  
Scorpius smiled, and they continued walking.

He knew she was lying; she cared what her father thought. Of course she did. And truth be told, so did Scorpius.

...

"Fred, where are you going for Easter?" Roxy asked, furiously writing on the piece of parchment in front of her.

"That depends; where are you going?" Fred asked cautiously. James turned, and smiled at him a little.

They'd both agreed upon this a few weeks ago; no matter what, James and Fred would not leave Roxy on her own this Easter.

"I'm staying." She shrugged.

"Right, well then so am I."  
"Me too." Anna said.  
"Me three." Dom nodded.

"Yeah, I'm going to stay here too." James sighed. As much as he'd agreed to it, he really wished he didn't have to stay. He wanted Roxy to say she was going home, so James could get away from here for a little while.

"No way, it's just going to be you old lot for those two weeks!" Louis pointed out.

"What's your point, weirdo?" Dominique asked, glaring at her little brother.

"I was just pointing it out, sis. Calm down."

His sister shook her head, and then returned to watching as Roxy scribbled quickly.

James watched her too; to look at her you wouldn't know what was going on. She'd come back to them a few months ago, after a week of refusing to do anything. Now she was back, though, she was acting like nothing had ever happened. That was just weird, in his opinion. He wanted to talk to her about it all; about what she thought and how she was feeling.

Everyone could tell how he was feeling; he'd never felt so broken in all his life. It was all he seemed to think of, even when he was supposed to be sleeping.

More than anything, he wanted to know how it happened. What had made Craig do that to Roxy? How had Louisa got into that situation where all her principles went out of the window?

Maybe they'd always wanted each other, and James was just a distraction for Lou while Craig was with Roxy? Maybe...

The unanswered questions were definitely the worst part of it all, especially when he wasn't sure he'd ever get the answers.

He found himself not caring about anything else, at all. He didn't care about Rose and Scorpius seemingly close to breaking up, or that Lily and Jake were practically making out in front of him. He didn't care that Roxy flat out refused to tell the parents about Craig and Louisa and he didn't care that it was his little brother's seventeenth birthday in two weeks. But most of all, he didn't care that there was a Quidditch match in less than three weeks, and they hadn't practiced since New Year's Day.

It was only Hufflepuff, after all.

They stayed in the common room for the rest of the evening, until Roxy pointed out the time and they all headed up the stairs to their dorms.

Roxy had officially moved back in with Dom and Anna; James and Fred had gone to pick up some of her clothes from her old dorm a few weeks ago.

That hadn't gone well.

But weirdly, he'd expected it all. The second they climbed into the head's dorm and saw Craig sat on the sofa, he knew what Fred'd do.

Fred had really taken this whole thing to heart. Mainly because it had proved James right; no guys should ever be allowed near the girls. And Fred, being an outsider like Dom, was obviously just watching as Roxy pretended and James fell apart. That couldn't be easy.

So James expected Fred to launch himself at Craig, shouting and swearing and gripping for his wand. It had been building for a ridiculously long time; every time Fred saw Craig he would mutter under his breath and clench his fists.

Initially James didn't do anything; a part of him kind of wanted Craig to be cursed to within an inch of his life. Then reality caught up with him and he realised that he couldn't let Fred get in trouble for his sake, so he walked forward and pulled Fred off the shorter boy.

"_Fred, he's not worth it!" James yelled, doubting his own words._

"_Yes he is! Have you seen my sister?" Fred replied, breathing so heavily his chest rose between every word._

"_Yeah, I have, Fred. But this won't help anything-"  
"It will! He sure as hell won't be able to cheat on anyone once I'm done with him!"_

_James grabbed Fred's shoulders as he once again stepped in Craig's direction._

"_Look, let's just get Roxy's stuff and get out of here."_

_Fred nodded, still glaring at Craig over James' shoulder. _

_James began to walk towards Roxy's room, but then turned and looked at Craig. "No one's in there, right?" he asked him, simply because Louisa shared a dorm with Rox, and if he opened the door to see her there he might become just as out of control as Fred did. _

"_No. She's not in there." Craig replied simply, while readjusting his shirt after it had been creased by Fred._

_James nodded, and pushed the door open._

_He tried to ignore the fact that Lou's belongings were scattered throughout the room, and instead headed towards the chest of draws, pulled it open, and began to throw Roxy's clothes at Fred, who caught them and put them into a cardboard box he'd transfigured out of nowhere._

_They didn't speak the whole time; James tried to not even breathe because every time he breathed in he could smell her; it was as if she was back in his arms for a nanosecond._

_It only took fifteen minutes; they didn't take any of the stuff they weren't positive was hers, just the clothes in her drawers._

"_Done?" Fred asked._

_James nodded silently, and Fred turned around and headed towards the door._

_James followed, until something caught his eye._

_On top of the dressing table, by the mirror, was the necklace he'd bought Louisa for Christmas. It was just lying there, some of the chain twisted into knots._

_Somehow, this tiny thing killed him. He didn't cry, though; instead he walked forward and swept everything off the dressing table in one move, the mirror falling to the floor with a smash. _

"_What the bloody hell wa-?"_

_Fred turned back around and saw James, then looked at the ground and saw the cracked mirror._

"_That's seven years bad-"  
"I think I've had all the bad luck I'm going to get." James replied, stepping over the smashed glass and jewellery that was now covering the floor. Then he lifted his foot high, and stood on the charm of the necklace, weirdly enjoying hearing it crack under his weight._

_Fred watched wordlessly, before turning and continuing out of the door, through to the exit._

_Unluckily, Louisa came in just as they left._

_James didn't say a word; he didn't apologise for wrecking her room and she didn't apologise for sleeping with Craig. The only word that was uttered was by Fred._

"_Slag."_

James still didn't fully know how he felt about it; she wasn't a slag, not really. She'd just made a mistake, or at least that's what he hoped.

"You alright mate?" Fred said quietly, as they both lay in their beds that night, staring up at the ceiling.

James shook his head to himself, but Fred couldn't see this in the dark.

So he lied.

"I will be."


	42. The Losers Of The Day

Evening/ Night/ Morning... what do you say at midnight, eh? Oh well this is what happens when you go to a party and come back with a Harry Potter scar, Rose loves Scorpius, a Gryffindor tie, Ron loves Hermione and Die Ginny Die written over your body. Well done me and my geeky friends...

Anyways, hello. Thanks for all the reviews – 35! You guys are incredible. Thanks to anonymous reviewers too; _geni, Dani_ (Thanks for the long review!), _James' fan, Jaye, cmarg, *blank* _x2.  
I only need 4 more favourites. 4! Come on guys! :D :D

Updates are totally going to come back to normal! Guess who's exams are over? Oh yes, 10 weeks of summer for me!

About this chapter; the ending... it's a little weird. I promise you it's not as dramatic as it comes across.

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter isn't mine; there that sums it up nicely.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty Two- The Losers Of The Day)**

Lily woke up groggily, her eyes barely open.

She dragged herself downstairs as she did every morning, missing one or two of the steps as she was barely in control of her feet.

She really hated Monday mornings. Every one was just like the last; nothing new ever happened and every week she would spend the day desperately wanting to go back to sleep. She would never realise the day of the week until mid way through Tuesday; she swore she was barely conscious until then.

Apart from this Monday.

Because this Monday she was pretty much tackled to the floor the second her feet hit the carpet of the common room.

"Louis what are you-?" she whined, pushing him off her and adjusting her eyes to being fully open. She turned, and saw that the common room was full of fellow Gryffindors, who just looked down at her knowingly yet silently.

"Shhhh!" he replied, beginning to crawl towards the nearby sofa, past people's feet and between their legs.

"What the-"

He repeated his shushing, and then motioned for her to follow him. She did so, feeling ridiculously stupid but barely awake enough to disagree.

And then he vanished.

"Where have you gone?" she squealed, wondering if she was dreaming this entire morning.

"Lily, shut the hell up and get over here!"

That was Fred's voice, not Louis'. She blinked in the direction of the noise for a second, before Louis' head again became visible, as if he was poking it out between some sort of curtain...

The invisibility cloak.

Slightly understanding a little more, she crawled in the direction of the cloak before feeling a hand on her shoulder and was yanked forward, through the gap in the fabric.

On the other side of the cloak, the entire Weasley/Potter clan was squashed in the small space between the sofa and the wall, the cloak stopping them from being seen.

"What is going o-?"  
"Al's birthday, duh." Rose replied tiredly. She looked about as awake as Lily felt.

Lily nodded, and crawled into the tiny den-like structure, glancing around.

Somehow, they were all there. Roxy was squashed right into the corner, next to Dominque. Both of them looked ridiculously perfect to say it was… sometime before midday. Fred was squashed into the wall beside them, with Anna crouching on his knee. James was practically asleep next to him, with Rose and Maddie opposite him. Louis, Hugo and Jake were opposite where Lily was now couching, her knees hitting the fabric of the sofa.

"Morning." Jake smiled at her.

She smiled back, and then dared to speak "How long have you been-?"  
"Shut up!" Hugo commanded, putting his finger to his lips.

So Lily crouched in silence, feeling her legs become more dead as the minutes passed. The entire room was silent, yet gradually filling with other Gryffindors who seemed to know what was going on and continued the silence.

It was as if they were expecting something, some sort of sign or something.

Then they heard a stair creak. They wouldn't have heard it if they weren't being so ridiculously quiet but it seemed to be what they were waiting for, because the entire family moved so they were mirroring Lily's position, as if ready to run or jump or fly…

Lily was completely bewildered.

"What the hell is-?"  
The family rose to their feet at the same time, and Lily was pulled up by Jake's hand on hers.

"Happy birthday!" they yelled, as Lily turned around to face the staircases confusedly.

She felt Fred move from their extremely squashed corner, and fireworks came flying down the stairs behind Al, who looked incredibly confused yet pleased. Scorpius just stood next to him, looking impressed.

The other Gryffindors began to clap, chanting "Potter" and "Legal".

"Guys, this is ace!" Al said, walking towards the family.

The others seemed to take this as a sign to move; Fred climbed over the back of the sofa, Roxy pushed herself out from the other side, and Louis pulled the cloak from where it was balancing and walked out of the side.

"Seventeen, eh?" Fred smiled.

"Well yeah, I guess..." Al replied.

At this point, he turned his head a little because Maddie had walked towards him.

She didn't actually say a word to him; she just kissed him.

Despite the weird PDAs, Lily liked Maddie. She seemed pretty cool, and absolutely perfect for Al. While he was confident, she was quiet; while he was strong, she was weak and while he was very guarded about his emotions, Madeline didn't hide anything.

"Woah, woah woah!" James exclaimed loudly, crossing his arms.

Lily knew that he was mostly doing this because it was early in the morning, but she wondered if there was more to it than that; maybe it reminded him too much of him and Louisa? Louisa, the bitch who had broken her brother's heart.

Al reluctantly let go of Maddie, and turned to their brother.

"Happy birthday, bro." James shrugged before awkwardly hugging Al.

Lily loved how awkward they found hugging nowadays; they used to do it all the time when they were younger. James and Al used to have a daily hug session, and cried if they didn't get to see each other, for whatever reason. How things had changed.

"Yeah, happy birthday." Rose said, punching him on the shoulder to make him turn around, while she was leaning on Scorpius.

"Happy birthday big brother." Lily added, nodding at him.

"Thanks, sis." He replied, before tilting his head. "How are you awake right now?" he joked.

Lily shook her head. "Don't ask me."

"'Bet you're starving!" Al said, turning to his family.

"Dying on my feet." Rose whined, getting nods of agreement from the rest of the family.

"Right; food?"

"You're the boss." Fred replied, following Al as he led them out of the common room.

Lily waited until most of them had gone, and then began to follow tiredly.

Then she felt someone's fingers catch hers.

"Morning." Jake said, once she'd span around and smiled up at him.

"Can I go back to bed?" she moaned, rocking on her feet deliberately childishly.

"Nope, sorry." He joked, grabbing her shoulders and steering her around towards the portrait hole.

She climbed through, then waited at the other side to hold his hand again.

They began to walk, not saying anything; Lily was just feeling Jake move his thumb up and down the side of her hand; that was all she really needed.

She loved this little second in their world, but she was knocked out of it when her brother walked past in the opposite direction.

"James?" she said, turning and watching as he walked back up the stairs.

She dropped Jake's hand, and began to chase after her brother.

"Grab me some food?" she asked Jake, who just nodded understandingly at her and smiled.

"James!" she shouted again, turning her attention completely to her brother.

He stopped at the top of the stairs, and watched her as she ran behind him.

"James, why aren't you in breakfast?"  
He shrugged. "I'm not hungry."

She didn't believe this, but she was pretty sure he didn't expect her to.

"You're the only child left in the family." He said casually, as if he was thinking out loud. "Me and Al are both '_adults_' now."  
"Great, thanks for pointing that out!" Lily replied, sarcastically.

James shook his head, laughing a little. "I meant it in a good way; I'd give anything to be a kid again. Things were so much simpler and..." he sighed wistfully, not really looking at Lily anymore, more through her.

Lily felt bad for him, she really did, but she felt that she had something that she needed to point out.

"It's our brother's birthday."

"So?" he asked.

"So? You're his big brother, James, and I know things are hard but he'd want us down there at breakfast to celebrate with him; you more than anyone."

James sighed. "Everyone's so happy. I hate that."

Lily laughed. "Just for today; pretend you don't. You can go back to hating the world tomorrow, but for today, just be happy. You never know; it might make you feel better."

He nodded, seemingly not believing what she was saying, but he did what she asked; she must have made sense a little bit.

And for a second that day, at breakfast when George had sent a howler that sang happy birthday incredibly loudly, Lily saw James smile. And she hoped to God she'd see it again sometime soon.

...

Roxy stared ahead in her arithmancy lesson, her hand shooting up automatically every time Professor Vector asked a question, but barely paying attention.

She loved this lesson because it was so logical, and required barely any thought. The answers were either right or wrong, there was no in-between.

She wished life was like that; good or bad and no blurring between it. At least she'd know where she stood. At least she'd know that she was doing the right thing for once in her life.

Arithmancy was the annoying lesson; it was worse that astronomy, because it was so unusual for a student to take it to NEWT level that it was held on a Monday evening, meaning everyone missed dinner and had to stay in work mode until 8 o'clock at night instead of using timeturners. Roxy wouldn't have bothered, if it wasn't her favourite lesson. But tonight, she wasn't bothered if she never went back to the common room; it was Al's birthday, and the family had planned a party with presents and cakes and house elves and alcohol and music and general happiness.

Roxy didn't like happiness, not at the moment. She couldn't fully remember what it felt like, really. Every time she thought she might be feeling some sort of joy, when she was laughing at Fred or smiling at Dom across the table, she didn't know if she was really feeling it or if it was fake. It was all fake, really. Fake smile, fake laughter, fake authority and fake _getting-there_. She wasn't "_getting there_." She was nowhere near... anywhere. She was stranded somewhere surrounded by other people's lies.

The worst bit was that none of this was because of her. She hadn't gone down James' line of self-blame; she knew she didn't deserve this or cause this. It made it worse though, because it made her feel completely helpless. She couldn't have done anything to stop it; she didn't have any one to apologise to.

She was alone.

"Who was the first witch to establish the magical properties of the number seven?"

Roxy's hand shot up.

"Bridget Wenlock" she said simply.

"Two examples of the number seven in Hogwarts?"

"Seven years of school, seven floors."

"In Quidditch?"  
"Seven hundred fouls, seven players."

"And what century did Bridget Wenlock live in?"

Roxy blinked.

This moment really encapsulated her life; she knew the answer. She knew she knew it, she always had, but somehow she just couldn't say it; she couldn't prove to anyone else that she knew it.

She sighed, biting her lip and trying to think.

And then someone else had to go and put their hand up.

Not just anyone else.

Louisa Hall.

"Yes, Miss Hall?"  
"Was it the thirteenth?" she suggested, looking nervously in Roxy's direction, as if somehow Roxy had won the right to always be right at this subject since Louisa had slept with her boyfriend.

"Correct Louisa! See class, it's knowing the little things that make you go that extra mile. _7 _points to Gryffindor."

Roxy couldn't help it; she scoffed, folded her arms and shook her head.

She'd only answered every other question, but no; Louisa had _gone the extra mile_, and come out on top.

"See you next lesson, class. Oh, and Roxanne I read in the Daily Prophet that it's your cousin's birthday? Say Happy Birthday to him for me!"

Roxy nodded politely, still angry at the world. No one else was ever asked to say happy birthday to students that the professors had never even said a word to.  
She collected her books, and threw them into the bag that she carried her arithmancy books in; carrying them by hand meant she would fall over.

And then her bag snapped, her books falling to the floor with a bang and her quills scattering over the floor.

Fantastic.

Sighing, shaking her head and mumbling to herself, she bent down and began to pick up all her rubbish from the floor. Only once she was on her knees did it dawn on her she could have used magic for such a simple task, but the dust ruining her cloak gave her one more thing to complain about and that made her pleased.

She reached for her quill, but someone else got there first. She looked up to see Louisa.

She wasn't sure what she was meant to say; she was so angry that it made her speechless. Standing up and leaving the rest of her rubbish on the floor, she pulled her wand out and muttered so all of her belongings flew into her now repaired bag. Louisa still held onto the quill, despite the fact it was pulling out her hands in the direction of Roxy's bag.

Roxanne just raised her eyebrows at the fellow head girl, and she let go instantly.

Roxy turned. What was she meant to do; say thank you for handing her something she didn't really need?

"Roxy, I..."

Louisa's little voice seemed to pinch through the silence that had fallen since the class left.

Roxy still didn't turn her head; why would she?

"Roxy." Louisa repeated, as if she thought she just hadn't been heard.

"I heard you." She replied harshly.

"Rox-"  
"You still haven't actually said sorry, do you know that?" Roxy asked, still looking at the door instead of at her old best friend.

"I-I thought that was obvious."  
"Not obvious enough."

Louisa sniffed from behind her, and then walked around Roxy and turned to look at her.

"Tell Ja..." she seemed to reconsider whatever she was going to say when she looked up from the floor and into Roxy's eyes. "Tell Al I say happy birthday." She decided to say, looking back at the floor as she spoke.

Of course, Roxy didn't reply. She walked straight past the smaller girl and through the door without saying a word.

She opened the door to see Dom waiting for her, leaning against the wall opposite looking tired and holding sandwiches from the kitchens.

Roxy wondered what she would do without her cousin right now; she wouldn't have any food, she'd have to walk on her own, she'd have to go into that party and just find people. She wondered what she'd do without Dom fullstop.

"Hey." Dom said simply, standing up straight and pulling her dress down so it wasn't quite as short. "You're out late."  
"Yeah? Well my bag broke and then..." Roxy wasn't completely sure what had happened then. She couldn't really describe it, so instead she walked up to Dom, took the sandwiches gratefully and turned to begin walking.

Then she saw Craig. She seemed to always see him; he and Louisa were in almost every lesson she took. It wasn't fair that they had each other; they sat in the seats Roxy used to sit in. Why the hell should Roxy have had to move? She wasn't the one who cheated on anyone.

Even when she wasn't in lessons, she would get unlucky and bump into them. In the hall, on corridor duty, in prefect meetings, in the corridor between classes... it was as if some weird force was just trying to torture her.

He was leaning on the wall next to the door, his arms crossed and his hair in that annoyingly perfect way... he was exactly where he always used to wait for Roxy after this lesson; he used to deliberately meet her and they would hide away in some empty classroom and eat dinner together and talk.

He wasn't waiting for her this time, though. Louisa came out of the classroom minutes later, wiping her eyes and biting her lip. Craig walked forward, looked at her sympathetically and then put his arm around her shoulders and they walked in the direction of the heads' dorms.

That was another thing Roxy seemed to have lost in this whole thing; she'd lost being head girl, practically. She'd moved out of the dorm and was missing meetings to avoid them; it was another thing that they'd kept when they shouldn't have.

"Reckon they're together?" Roxy said, uncontrollably turning and continuing to watch them as they walked down the corridor.

Dom was at her side. "If they are, they deserve each other."

She nodded, and began to feel a weird feeling burning the inside of her eyes. A mixture of anger and sadness and... jealousy? Either way, it showed itself as tears, which she blinked away before Dom spotted them.

"Right, party?"  
"Yeah, I guess." Dom replied as they walked down the corridor. "Although it's not that good; no one's forgotten McGonagall's rules so they're behaving."

"Even-?"  
"Even Fred."

Roxy laughed a little, and then sighed to herself.

"Dom can I ask you something?"  
"Yeah, anything."  
"Why do you think they did it?" She wasn't really asking Dominique. She was asking herself. Why would Craig ever cheat on her? How could Louisa ever do that to James? Did she even know them a little bit?

"I don't... I don't know, Rox." Dom sighed, brushing her hair from her face. "I can't understand it."

"Apparently no one can."

Roxy turned her head and her cousin smiled at her a little, supportively.

"What you need is some fun." Dom smiled, nudging her.

Roxy nodded in agreement. _Fun_ sure sounded good in theory.

They didn't say much else on the walk to the common room. Roxy complimented Dom's dress and Dom explained what she'd laid out for Roxy to wear; superficial conversation, really.

"Right, prepare for the lamest party ever..." Dom joked, before turning to the Fat Lady and saying the password.

They climbed through into a quiet common room; no music and barely any talking.

"Ok, I don't remember it being this bad..." Dom said, a little worriedly.

"Yeah this is awf-"  
"Roxy, Dom!" The female voice wasn't loud, but neither was the common room so she was easily heard. Roxy found the source walking towards her; it was Maddie, Al's girlfriend, without Al by her side. There was no sign of any of her family, now she thought about it... "They just left."  
"Who left where?" Dom asked, confusedly; worry completely taking over her voice now.

"Your family. It-It's Rose. Someone came in and told us that the family had to go to the hospital wing immediately because Rose had fallen down the owlery stairs and was unconscious and-"  
The two girls didn't listen to anything else¸ they just turned and climbed straight back out of the room wordlessly and sped down the corridor, the clattering of Dom's high heels echoing as they ran.


	43. Keeping Faith

Evening! So, my promise of regular updates has already been ruined by my leaving party and work. I do officially apologise. From now on, every... 3 days? Is that enough time to get reviews in? I like to get 30-ish before I update (I know, greedy, but I pretty much scream every time I get an email from FF! And I love replying far too much to explain...)

So, now we know about my future updating plans, onto thanking for reviews, alerts, favourites etc. THANKYOU! (I think that about sums it up). Anonymous reviewers: _Jaye, Dani _and_ diagonallyderanged _(hope that's all of you!)- Thank you very much!

Now, I realise I panicked a fair few of you with the end of that last chapter. I hope this makes you feel better about it all. Please read and review! One more favourite to 100! And 23 more reviews to 700! Yes, you heard me right, 700. Wow, you guys really are incredible.

Ok, I'll stop rambling now and let you read. Enjoy.

_**Disclaimer: **__I still don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I would've already seen the new trailer and would therefore not be nearly as excited for Monday. :L

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty Three- Keeping Faith)**

Hugo never dealt well with chaos.

So running through the halls with his cousins, barely able to breathe, with their footsteps echoing around the corridors was not exactly his ideal situation.

Especially when he wasn't completely sober, or completely aware of what was going on. He'd been sitting with some of Louis' friends and planning his own seventeenth party before some tall, brown haired guy from his year had come in and told him his sister was in trouble.

And now they were running, Hugo following James and Fred who was clinging to Anna's hand and practically dragging her along. Louis on one side, with Lily on the other; he knew that if it wasn't urgent she would loathe the fact they were running. She didn't run. She hated it, for some reason.  
Hugo disagreed. In normal circumstances he was quite fond of the freedom that running gave him. It felt like almost anything that was possible; that you could almost jump from the ground and fly without even needing a broom or magic; when he was running it was purely human instinct, there was no magic involved. Maybe that was why he liked it; it felt a little purer.

Metres ahead of James and Fred, Al and Scorpius were running like nothing Hugo'd ever seen before. They'd started earlier, the second the messenger boy had even said the word "_Rose_" they'd been launching themselves towards the portrait hole.

"What about Roxy and Dom?" Lily yelled between breaths.

"Someone'll tell them; Jake or Maddie or-" Louis simply stopped talking as they hit a set of stairs and the running required a little more concentration.

James, Al, Fred and Scorpius were pretty much jumping, missing three or four steps each time.

Hugo wasn't about to even try; had they not heard what had happened to Rose? She'd fallen down the stairs and they were about to do the same thing.

Somehow, though, his feet wouldn't let him take his time on the stairs; he was still running, only his heels catching the edge of the carpet. What else was he meant to do when his sister was in danger?

He didn't even fully know what had happened to her; what had she been in the owlery for at this time? She'd been in the party earlier on; he'd seen her and Scorpius sitting and talking just like normal. So why had she fallen down the stairs? Why the hell was she in the hospital wing?

They carried on sprinting once they were back on flat ground, down the empty corridors where their shadows were the only things to keep them company.

"Come on!" Hugo heard Al yell, as they rounded the corner before the doors to the hospital wing.

Hugo heard the doors clatter open before he'd even seen them.

"We're- we're here for Rose Weasley? We were told to..."  
Al was talking loudly, his voice ringing out of the doors and down the corridor.

Hugo was in the hospital wing seconds later, standing next to the rest of the family who looked a mixture of worn out, worried and confused. Chairs were laid out behind them, for people who had to wait for something, but none of them seemed to want to sit despite their exhaustion.

"Wow, there really are a lot of you aren't there?" The new nurse for this year, Madam Dixon, replied, her Scottish accent weirdly annoying Hugo.

He knew there was a lot of them; why was she telling them that?

Of course, she was new. The old matron knew about the Weasleys and Potters; they practically made yearly trips with their failed spells or their Quidditch injuries… Or falling down the stairs if you were Hugo's stupid clumsy sister, apparently.

"Yeah, there is. Look, where is sh-?"  
"She's in bed at the moment. You'll just have to wait out here, at least until her parents arrive-"  
"Mum and Dad are coming? Why; is Rose really ill?" Hugo exclaimed almost automatically, his heart speeding up to ridiculous levels as he wondered what state she was in. He felt Fred's hand around his shoulder, which he assumed was meant to be some sort of comfort to him but just made him more worried.

"Of course she's not, dearie. She fell, and hit her head on the concrete."  
Anna gasped at that, which made Hugo's blood rush through his veins even faster, if it were possible.

"Now, at the moment she's resting while some of her bones heal-"  
"What bones did she break?" Al interrupted.

"Her collar bone and a minor fracture on her arm but there's really nothing to healing that so-"  
"Where's Rose?" Roxy was the one who interrupted this time, the doors slamming shut behind her and Dom.

"Oh look, there's even more of you!"  
Hugo didn't mean to sound like a snob, but did she not know who they were?

"Where is she?" Roxy asked Fred, standing next to him in the line that was now forming opposite the outnumbered Matron.

"She's unconscious and hit her head and has broken bones and-"  
"And nothing." The Matron interrupted James' morbid-sounding list. "She's fine, kids. Really, I don't even know why the headmistress thought you should be here; you can come and visit her in the morning."  
"Then why is Uncle Ron coming?" Louis asked, frustrated.

Madam Dixon looked confused, and then her mouth fell open. "_Rose Weasley_. Of course, you're the Weasleys and Potters! No wonder there's so many of you! Oh, I feel so stupid for not realising who you were sooner!"  
"Yeah, that's great." Dom said sarcastically. "Look, can we go in and see her?"

The woman took her hands off her hips, and tilted her head. "Normally I would say that none of you can visit, but since you're such a legendarily close family I'll allow three of you to wait at her bedside."  
"Three? What are the rest of us meant to do?"

"You're all welcome to sit out here until you're Uncle arrives. Then he can choose however many of you he wants to be in with her."  
"Right. Ok, well then... Hugo, you have to go." Hugo barely listened to Roxy; he'd already stepped out from the line and in the direction of the door to the ward. He stopped walking and waited though, the fear of what he would open the door and see winning over his need to be with his sister.

"Al, you should go too."

Al just nodded, seemingly dazed.

"Ok, so third person-"  
"Scorpius." James said. "No question."

Scorpius turned his head and looked at James gratefully, and then he and Al joined Hugo by the door.

"You'll have to stay quiet, kids. She needs to stay asleep at least for another few hours otherwise she'll take longer to get better."

Hugo nodded nervously, and then the nurse pushed the large doors to the ward open.

He glanced back at the rest of his scared family, who had begun to get comfortable on the seats opposite the door as it was obvious they would refuse to go anywhere else.

He turned and followed the rest of them through the doors, into the large room where empty beds were lining the wooden walls.

He hated this room. Really really hated it. And it wasn't because he didn't like sick people, or because he was scared of some of the things that could happen in here. It was because he didn't like the big stone plaque on the back wall, which glared at you as you walked inside. _This hospital wing saved many a life and provided many a resting place after the Battle of Hogwarts. May 2, 1998.  
_People had died in here. The dead bodies of those legends his father had told him of had lay in here before they were buried.

Hugo wasn't normally the type to get all weird and sentimental about the war. He didn't like the idea of it, nobody did, though he wasn't like Rose or Lily who cried at the mere mention of it. Something about that plaque on the wall made it feel too real, though; sometimes he thought of it as just a story but this proved it was no such thing.

"She's just over here, but when I say be quiet I mean it!" Madam Dixon said sternly, leading them into the back corner towards the only bed with anyone in it.

His sister.

God she was a pain in the ass _all_ of the time; she always made Hugo look bad in front of his parents, she made him feel stupid when he thought he was being smart, she flat out refused to ever help him with his schoolwork, and now she'd gone and ruined the first party in ages by ending up in a hospital bed with bandages on her head and her shoulder hanging lopsidedly.

Without saying a word, the three boys pulled seats from another bedside to be next to her. They could've magicked them over (or at least Al could've) but Hugo was just glad of something to do.

Then they just sat there. Scorpius, opposite Hugo and Al, had found Rose's hand under the bedcover and twisted his fingers between hers. Hugo would've groaned at the contact between his sister and her boyfriend if she was conscious, and if he didn't really want to hold her hand himself.

"Well, I've had better birthdays!" Al whispered, jokingly.

Scorpius didn't even look up from Rose, but Hugo laughed a little.

"She's going to be alright, right?" Hugo said quietly, voicing his fears. He never normally did that, he liked to think he was like his father; strong and silent.

They didn't answer, mainly because they didn't know the answer. So Hugo put his faith in medicine, and any sort of higher power, and the spirits that still lingered in this room, and hoped together, these things could heal his sister.

...

The light seemed to burn through her eyes; all she saw was the weird shade of red that was the other side of her eyelids.

She felt before she saw; she heard the weird empty silence and someone's deep breaths, and felt numbness course down her left arm from the elbow down. Her head ached, and her eyes snapped open as she suddenly realised she didn't recognise any smells around her.

Her head was leaning to the right, and the second her eyes opened she saw him. Her Dad was blurry while the backdrop of the hospital wing was clear. Forcing her eyes to focus, his ginger hair was the first thing that made her smile a little.

"Dad?" she asked, wondering if she was somehow hallucinating or dreaming. She didn't know how she was here or what the heck her Dad was doing in school instead of at work, but whatever was going on, she was just glad to see him.

"Rosie." He said quietly, leaning forward. "Rosie, you're awake! Are you alright, do you need anything or-?"  
She shook her head, looking further behind him and out of the window, purely out of curiosity and to see if it gave her anymore clues on the mystery as to why she was lying in a hospital bed. She didn't learn anything from the abnormally bright sun. She looked down a little, and saw her right arm was bandaged but didn't seem to hurt or ache, so she assumed whatever was wrong was now healing.

"I'm fine, Dad." She sighed, looking into his eyes and smiling convincingly to try and pull some of the worry from them. She resisted the urge to look to the left and discover why she was numb there, because she didn't want to break eye contact with him.

"Are you sure, Rose? Your Mother's sorry, she had to go to work but she's coming back tonight so-"  
"How long am I in here for?" she asked, her voice a little croaky.

"Just until tomorrow, according to Madam Dixon."

Rose didn't question this unusual name, she just nodded.

"Rose, I-...we got your letter." He pulled out a piece of parchment, the exact shade of beige that the pages in her diary were. "Well, if you'd call it a letter." He turned it around so she could see it, and _I love him _was scribbled across it in her rushed yet neat handwriting.

Everything came back to her then. She remembered running up to the owlery, suddenly realising that she had to make her father understand before she and Scorpius went over there for Easter. She'd sent Hugo's owl flying away, and then she'd felt really good about it. And then she'd been walking down the stairs happily, in an almost skipping fashion before her foot had missed a step and she'd come toppling down. And then she'd woken up, as far as she knew.

"Looks like he feels the same." Her father said simply, nodding his head in the direction of Rose's numb hand. She turned her head to see Scorp lying asleep across her arm, his fingers twisted between hers. "Apparently you woke up at about 1 this morning, and asked for food. And your cousins and brother obviously knew this meant you were ok, because they decided to go to sleep and visit you sometime today since McGonagall gave them the day off. Apart from Scorpius; apparently he refused to leave you."

Rose smiled, looking down at Scorp, who's hair had fallen over his eyes. She realised she'd never seen him asleep before, not as fully asleep as he was right now. She found herself wondering what he was dreaming of, or if he was dreaming at all. He was the type to dream, she imagined. She knew he had hopes and fears; she didn't know or understand all of them, but she knew he had them. She hoped to herself that some of his dreams and hopes and even fears included her.

"Rose, I'm sorry." Her father mumbled from her other side, and Rose tore her eyes from Scorp and looked at her Dad.

"Dad, you don't have to be-"  
"Yeah, I do. Rose I'd never have forgiven myself if you never woke up and the last thing I ever did was just walk away from you." He sniffed, seemingly trying not to cry and to carry on seeming strong.

"Dad don't-"  
"I know I overreacted. But I probably would have done that with anyone, whether he was a Malfoy or not. When you read your daughter's pregna... well, anyway. I'm so sorry, Rosie."

She smiled, shaking her head. "Dad, I love you." she shrugged. "I do still love you, even if I love Scorp too."  
He smiled back. His smile was almost exactly like Hugo's, but somehow while Hugo's smile annoyed Rose her father's made her feel like throwing her arms around him. "I love you too, Rosie. Of course I do."

She nodded, both of them silently agreeing not to talk about it anymore.

So they didn't. They stayed there and talked about Ron's work, Rose's lessons and all the family. She was careful not to bring up any of her cousins secrets, but it was difficult; she was a different person with her parents; they knew different things and cared about different details, but here she was at school, but had to try and remind herself who she was conversing with. For someone like her brother it would have been impossible, but Rose was smart.

After half an hour or so, her father had to leave for work but he promised to come back with her Mum later.

Almost the second he was out of the door, Rose realised she was alone and hated it.

She started to move her left arm, and whispered Scorp's name as she did so.

"Scorp! Scorp, wake up."

His eyes snapped open, and he sat up so quickly that he almost fell backwards off his chair.

"Rose. Rose, you're awake! Are you okay, do you need anything or-?"

"I'm fine." She smiled, her calm voice contrasting to his panicked one.

"Are you sure, I mean you don't-?"  
"You missed my Dad." She said simply, as it was the only thing she could really distract him with.

"What?" Something close to fear flashed across his eyes, which was slightly humorous to Rose. "Your Dad was here? While I was asleep? Oh god, I bet he hates me even more now-"  
"I think he liked it. I think it proved to him that you love me a little bit."  
"Well, I do... I do love you."  
"I should hope so." She replied, shrugging.

"I do." His fingers were still twisted between hers and at this, he squeezed her hand. "I... I don't know what I would've done if-"  
"I've already heard one of these speeches today." She smiled at him.  
"Sorry. But you really scared me there, Rose."

She sighed, and mumbled an apology as a reply.

"Don't be silly, you don't need to be sorry." He smiled again, before curiosity crossed his face. "What were you even doing up in the owlery at that time?"  
"I... I had to send a letter." She looked to the other side, and saw that her father had left the note on her bed cover. "This letter to be exact."

She picked it up, and handed it to Scorpius.

And he just smiled at her in a mixture of gratitude, pride and something else she couldn't quite work out.

"I can't believe you fell down the stairs to send that." He laughed, and Rose crossed her arms indignantly. "I love you too." He told her, before standing up a little and kissing her on the cheek.

Then he sat down, his fingers still linked with hers.

And Rose found herself looking forward to Easter even more than before.


	44. Expected Behaviour

Evening. Wow, I'm totally on time in my updating. How proud am I of myself?

Anyways, guess who finally hit 100 favourites and 700 reviews! I am so so happy! And it's all down to you lovely readers so thank you for that.

Anonymous readers _Dani_ and _Sean_; thankyou! And thankyou to all other favouriters/reviewers/alerters etc.

Hope you like this chapter and keep reviewing! It means a lot to me!

_**Disclaimer:**__Guess who doesn't own Harry Potter! Yeah, that's me. Good guess.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty Four- Expected Behaviour)**

Today had been a good day for the Potters and the Weasleys. Why? Because Rose had fallen down the stairs, and they'd all gotten the day off lessons which, of course, Fred had thanked her for.

It wasn't all good though; Fred and James had hardly been able to sleep the night before.

Fred didn't like who he was in serious situations. He didn't have humour to compensate for anything, and his hatred of silence was the most passionate when he was scared. So he'd just laid there last night, him and James in complete silence although talking would have probably made them feel a little better. They knew she was better, in theory; she'd woken up and asked for food; nothing screamed Rose Weasley like that did. So why couldn't he sleep?

They'd gotten up early in the morning, purely so Fred could tease Anna about the fact she had to go to lessons while he didn't. Then they hadn't known what to do while they waited for the girls to get up; he and James had just sat there silently until they were joined by the rest of the family.

They'd decided they would go and visit Rose, since it was gone 10 and they had nothing better to do.

And when they saw Rose was alright, Fred turned back to himself. "Alright, Rosie. Have a nice trip did we?" were his first words to her.

She'd laughed, and everything was fine again.

Roxy had then forced them all to leave and work in the common room, since they had to use their spare time _constructively _and not amusingly.

Fred had, of course, spent it asleep or joking with Hugo about Quidditch teams. James worked, which Fred had somehow expected. James seemed to work silently a lot lately; it was irritating. James was now constantly that other serious guy, and while Fred understood it that didn't mean he liked it.

When lessons ended, Fred realised he'd spent his day doing nothing. He loved that; he loved wasting time.

Anna had come into the common room, and whined about her day, which Fred had just laughed at. And then she'd asked to see how Rose was doing. Anna was like family, after all; he knew she cared about Rose just as much as he did.

So he'd agreed, and Al and Scorpius had come along too. James had already gone up to their room, seemingly giving up on civilisation, and Roxy, Dom, Lily, Hugo and Louis just couldn't be bothered to move.

And that's how Fred had ended up back here, sat next to Rose's bed. She was fine; she laughed and joked and whined about food or missing school just like normal.

Fred could tell she really hated the hospital wing though, in fact he got the feeling that every one of his family did.

For this, he blamed his parents. He'd heard so many stories about the war, about the battle of Hogwarts, that he could practically write a book on them all. He knew where almost every duel took place, where each individual had died. He remembered his first day; walking around school he realised how real it all was. Little eleven year old Fred had stared around the great hall at his sorting, but not out of awe or wonder at the grandeur of the place like everyone else had; he'd looked around and pictured Voldemort's death, pictured all the bodies lying across the tableless hall and heard everyone's screams and cries of grief.

Of course, it had all gone away after a few days. It would come back every now and again; once or twice something would just make him think, and on memorial day it was all you could think of... but the rest of the time it was almost like it hadn't happened.

Somehow, though, in this hospital wing he just couldn't forget it. The plaque on the wall was like the memorial statue; a reminder of everything. A reminder of how recent and how real it had all been; his parents had lived what he imagined as some sort of story.

Without speaking, Fred, Al, Scorp and Anna agreed to stay in here for as long as they could so as not to leave Rose on her own.

They got away with staying until about half seven, but then they were yelled at.

"You should all be leaving soon! Normally I would have made you leave hours ago but since you're Weasleys..."  
Al nodded gratefully, then looked at Fred and Anna who had already stood up.

"Mind if I just stay back to say goodbye-?" Scorpius asked.

Fred smiled. "Fine. Just don't let the hospital woman catch you _'saying goodbye'__._"

Scorpius smiled, while Al just shook his head and walked outside quickly. Fred and Anna followed, holding hands.

They opened the doors, and sat down on the seats opposite the door to wait for Scorpius.

It was a bit awkward, when Fred thought about what exactly they were waiting for. To distract himself from these thoughts, he turned and kissed Anna.

"Woah, woah woah. We left to get away from that-"  
"Well, I would ask you to leave but I fear that might be a bit cruel." Fred joked back, smiling.

Al groaned, and continued to do so until Scorpius came through the doors.

"Right, are you done making out with my cousin?" Al asked impatiently, after tapping his foot for a fair while.

"I-I..." Scorpius seemed to be thinking of protesting, but ended up just shrugging and saying "Yeah, I am actually."  
This seemed to annoy Al even more, as he huffed and walked out of the doors back into the corridors.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and followed after him.

Anna laughed, standing up. "Your family do make me laugh." She sighed as she began to walk.

"Thanks... I think?" Fred replied, not fully sure what he was meant to reply to that.

"You're really lucky to have them, you know?"

"I know." He replied honestly yet still a little confusedly.

Every now and again, Anna would have these days. Fred was at the point where he could now handle them, when before it used to freak him out. Dom and Roxy still couldn't fully understand her at times like this; they would just pass her over to Fred. Today he even knew it was coming; she'd hardly said a word, and had stared into the air for a fair while.

On these days, Anna would become weirdly reflective, to the point of almost being morbid. She would talk about family and love and hope and dreams and death and life... the trick was to just listen, and answer any of her questions as honestly as possible. Fred almost enjoyed these days now; they meant he could think a little more, and he was able to understand Anna even more than he did before.

"I'm closer to your family than mine." She sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

He considered protesting, to make her feel better, but he couldn't. Not only because she didn't give him a chance, but also because it would have been a lie.

"I hardly ever see my Dad, I hate my Mum, Janey loves Mum so we're not close and... I dunno, you guys are all so close and sometimes I feel like I'm more a part of that than... It's stupid."  
"No, it's not. You are a part of our family; through me and Roxy and Dom and James... we all love you."  
She stopped, and looked up at him through her big green eyes.

They were the first thing he had fallen in love with. Somehow, he'd never looked into her eyes until third year and when he did... he'd never seen anything like them before. He'd seen green eyes, sure; Al had green eyes, Harry had green eyes... There were green eyed people everywhere. But no one had eyes like Anna's. They were eyes you could lose yourself in for hours. Almost like the jungle; they had billions of secrets and hidden magic and just never seemed to end.

"I love you." he reiterated, shaking his head almost tiredly.

"I love you too." She smiled.

Her smile was the second thing he had fallen in love with; it came at the same time as her sense of humour. When she managed to convince Dom that eating hundreds of bananas would make her hair even blonder, Fred had turned into some stupid little stuttering boy, who had to run upstairs to his dorm just to get his breath back. He was gone; he'd fallen so hard that he never actually got back up.

"Do you ever find it scary; that we don't know what the future holds or-?"

"My future has you in it, no matter what." He told her, placing his hands into her hair.

Her hair was definitely one of the top ten things he loved about her. She wasn't like those other girls; she didn't mess around with her hair or really seem to care what she looked like; her hair was exactly the same whether she was out at a party or playing Quidditch or just got out of bed... she was perfect without even trying.

She stood on her tiptoes a little, which Fred thought made her seem even cuter.

The rest of the world seemed miles away. It seemed like hours since they'd walked out of that hospital wing, even though it was only minutes or maybe even seconds. Scorpius and Al didn't even seem to exist, they were so far down the corridors in front of them.

She kissed him, somehow channelling unsaid words into it all. Then she leant back, and looked up at him and blinked.

And then she was back, as if she'd snapped out of... whatever sort of trance or thought she was lost in moments ago.

Fred was more lost than he'd ever been before; she made him crazy. She made him feel almost tired since he worked so hard to slow down the time he spent with her.

"I've missed you." he told her, words falling out of his mouth aimlessly.

"I'm right here."

"I know, I just... I've missed being with you."  
Three months. Three long, tiring and lonely months had passed since he'd really been close to her. Since McGonagall had come along and ruined what he previously had down as a perfectly good system.

He knew what some of his year (even some of his family) thought: that he and Anna were a pair of sex-crazed, hormonal teenagers. That wasn't who they were.

Hugging and kissing had never been close enough for them. It had felt as though there was a distance; secrets between them, still. That had gone when they slept together. They suddenly knew everything about each other and felt as though they couldn't possibly be closer.

Admittedly, they were addicted to it; addicted to that feeling of being one, feeling the same emotions, instead of being two separated entities.

Sex didn't define them; they could and they had survived without it. But that didn't mean Fred didn't bloody miss it.

"Do you reckon McGonagall's ever going to cancel her stupid rules?"  
"If she doesn't soon we're just going to have to get into trouble." He replied, raising his eyebrows.

Anna laughed a little, then they began to walk in the direction of the common room down the now deserted corridors.

"I think it's stupid; everyone else does it. Just because you're a Weasley and-"  
"We're meant to be _'role models'_ or something-"  
"That's stupid. You can't be role models just because of your surnames! The head boy and girl, they're meant to be role models but they still-"  
"Yeah. They do still..."

They both shook their heads at the same time.

"How's Roxy doing?" Fred asked, feeling stupid. He should know how his sister was; but all he knew was what she showed him and he knew all of that was fake.

"Not good." She shook her head. "James?"  
"Same, I guess. I wouldn't know; he doesn't really talk much."

"Reckon he knows it's the Quidditch match the day after tomorrow?"

Fred shook his head. "I don't think James knows anything past Louisa and Craig anymore."

"They'll be alright. They will move past it, we just have to give them time and..."  
"I dunno. I think Roxy'll be fine. I don't know why, I just do. But James? He loved her for so long, and then for it all to just fall apart like that? He's lost faith in all of it, I just know he has." And Fred couldn't do anything about it.

"All we can do is be there for them, right?"  
"Yeah."

Fred knew she was right; he just had to be there and watch as two of the most important people in his life gradually fell apart, and then he had to watch as they tried to put themselves back together again.

He turned a little, and looked down at Anna.

He knew what he wanted for James and Roxy; he wanted them to have what he had.

Anna healed him like nothing else could.

...

"Are you sure you're alright, you don't need anything or-?"  
"Scorp, ask me that one more time and I'll curse you so you can never ask anyone anything again."  
Scorpius nodded, smiling a little; she really was ok if she was threatening.

He sat down on the sofa next to her, after having hovered for the last ten minutes since he walked her back into the common room.

"Stop watching me!" she groaned tiredly, glancing at the rest of her family who were (to Scorpius slight relief) eying her just as warily.

"We're sorry, we just... you're never allowed near the owlery again; you ruined the party." Al told her, shrugging.

"Well, you get another party tomorrow-"  
"Only if we win the match." Hugo interrupted.

"No, you get a party no matter what; it's Scorp's birthday."

Al's eyes widened. "I knew that." He lied, looking at Scorpius a little nervously.

Scorpius didn't even mind that much. He wasn't at all bothered that it was his birthday; he didn't care how many years he'd been alive. He didn't want a big party, it just wasn't him.

"Eugh, we're going to have to find more fireworks." Fred whined, leaning his head back. "It'd be fine if we were allowed in the bloody room of requirement but McGonagall just has to go off and be a complete-"

"Fred-"  
"Witch. She's being a witch; we're being wizards. That's all I was going to say!" Fred smiled at his sister, who just rolled her eyes.  
"How long is she going to do this to us for?" Dom asked, looking around the room, bored.

James, sat on the other side of Fred, shrugged as if he just didn't care; he probably didn't. Roxy wore the same expression as he did; she didn't look to give a damn if the rules were ever lifted. Hugo and Louis both looked desperate for the rules to return to normal, as did Fred, Anna and Dom. Al was looking almost nervous, awkwardly looking away from Maddie who was leaning on his shoulder. Scorpius understood this; Al had confessed that he was worried of what he and Maddie would be expected to do when the rules had disappeared now he was seventeen, and he didn't know if he'd match up to whatever she'd experienced before. Scorpius almost felt the same; he and Rose hadn't discussed everything that had happened in the room of requirement; he was seventeen tomorrow, and he was too nervous to ask her if their previous plans would return once they were allowed to be alone together again. Although, he knew there may be a queue for the Room Of Requirement.

"Probably forever." Hugo replied dramatically, for which Lily rolled her eyes.

"At least we're allowed back in Hogsmeade next time." She offered.

"Yeah, but what is there in Hogsmeade? Sweets, jokes and butterbeer; we have all that here."  
Lily just shook her head, and smiled up at Jake as if they had some secrets based in Hogsmeade.

"So... Quidditch tomorrow." Fred said, awkwardly.

"Yeah, prepare for a loss." Anna sighed.

"Who said we're going to lose-?"  
"We did, when we didn't practice for three months." Fred replied, looking at James warily.

"Yeah, sorry guys. I just... I haven't really thought about it, but it's only Hufflepuff; we'll win tomorrow and then practice'll be back to normal afterwards." James speech would have been almost motivating, if he didn't say it in such a tired and rehearsed way.

"Well... great." Fred replied, disbelievingly. "All we really need is for Al to catch the snitch and then..." his voice trailed away, for reasons Scorpius didn't understand until he followed his eye line.

The two people the Weasley family hated most currently (after maybe Voldemort and all the associated death eaters) had just climbed through the portrait hole, and were walking in their direction.

Scorpius felt the family change into almost defensive positions. Dominique sat up straight, pulling her hair back as if preparing for battle. Fred put his arm around Anna, yet somehow also managed to lean towards James. Lily and Jake stopped looking at each other and stared at the unwelcome arrivals, as did Al and Maddie. Louis and Hugo folded their arms in sync, and Scorpius felt himself reach out for Rose's hand and clasped his fingers between hers.

The weirdest reactions, however, came from the two injured members of the family; James suddenly seemed unable to look anywhere but the ceiling and Roxy jumped up from her seat by the fireplace, as if to leave, but then reconsidered and hovered awkwardly.

"What do you want?" Fred asked, not even hiding the anger in his voice. Scorpius understood; even he was angry and he was just an outsider.

Louisa's eyes blinked rapidly, as if she was considering walking straight back out. Craig unfolded his arms and dared to take another step forward.

For a second he was stood so close to Roxanne that they almost looked like they used to.

"We just-"

"Here to apologise?" Lily (surprisingly) asked, evilling the girl who smashed her brother's heart.

"N- no."  
"No? You're not going to apologise?" Fred asked, his voice sounding as if it could burn someone.

"T-that's not why we're here. We've just had a meeting with McGonagall-"  
"What, a head's meeting? Why wasn't Roxy there? She deserves to be head girl more than you two." Anna hissed.

"Sh-she didn't get the message-"  
"You didn't tell her." Dom translated.

"Look, McGonagall told us to tell you that her additional amendments to the rules are officially over. No more curfew or-"  
"That's great." James interrupted, dryly, while the other members of the family glanced at each other a little happily.

"Want to get lost now?" Al asked the two older kids.

Craig nodded, almost as if he was obeying, and began to walk towards the portrait hole.

Louisa didn't move, her eyes scanning around the family as if begging for a missing link.

"I'm so sorry." She eventually said, her head shaking as if uncontrollable.

"You should be." Rose told her, she and the rest of the family showing no hint of forgiveness.

Louisa nodded, and walked out and then silence covered the rest of them.

Scorpius, like the others, was unsure of what his next move should be. He could feel the happiness radiating from Fred and Anna from where he was sat; the loss of the rules meant they were free again. But then, they were meant to stay angry; stay sat with James and Roxanne and talk about what awful human beings Louisa and Craig were.

"The rules are over, guys; celebrate." James commanded, breaking the silence. Everyone just shuffled. "Seriously, be normal; Roxy and I need you to."

Fred nodded, then got up and pulled Anna up with him. Then then walked out of the common room with their hands clasped.

"I'd prefer it if I could see the celebrating." Roxy joked awkwardly, sitting down in the seat next to James that Fred had just vacated.

James laughed weakly in reply, while Scorpius just looked around the room uneasily and found Al's eyes looking back at him equally as uncomfortably.

"We hate her, do you know that?" Lily said quietly, biting her lip and looking up at her brother.

"Who?" James asked, blankly.

"Louisa. We... we really hate her; we hate them both actually but... yeah."  
Her big brother nodded, as if he wasn't really sure how to feel about that, and then said "thanks" quietly. He then cleared his throat, turning to his cousin. "Rox, can you help me with that essay upstairs? We'll leave all of this lot to celebrate the rules being over."

Roxanne nodded, looking oddly dazed by Lily's statement, before the two of them stood up and walked up the boys' dorm stairs.

Dominique stood up, without speaking, and went up to her own dormitory.

"Do you think I said the wrong thing?" Lily asked the remaining Weasleys and her brother.

"No, I think you were honest. We do hate her." Hugo told her.

"Yeah, but I don't think James does." Al sighed.

They were hit with silence again; despite the fact James and Roxanne had left they still felt as though they should be careful with what they said.

Until Rose jumped up.

"Rose, what're you doing?" Scorpius asked her, confusedly.

"Proving to you that I'm alright now." She smiled, turning around.

"Can you please not do that in front of me?" Hugo flinched, covering his eyes.

Rose just sighed exasperatedly, and walked to Madeline and pulled her up from Al's knee. Then she whispered something in her friend's ear, as Scorpius and Al just looked worriedly at each other.

Grabbing Lily's hand on the way, the three girls ran up the boys' stairs, their laughter echoing into the abandoned boys' ears.

"I don't understand." Louis said simply, looking at the stairwell confusedly.

"For once, you're not the only one." Jake told him, receiving a punch on the leg.

It was only a few moments until the boys weren't so confused any more, as it sounded like a hippogriff cantered down the stairs and the girls appeared in the stairwell carrying...

"They're my Quidditch gloves!" Al whined, standing up and looking at Maddie confusedly.

And then the girls, carrying the belongings of the boys, walked towards their own staircase and stood on the front step.

"Oh god, I hate you Rose!" Hugo whined, standing up and running in front of the stairwell.

Scorpius only complained weakly; he didn't have anything to truly whine about.

It felt good to have fun, and be childish, again.


	45. Anything But

Evening all! How is everyone today? I am slowly losing my soul, because I'm doing work experience and am basically now a secretary. Although, I am very entertained by finding Potter-related names. I found an Umbridge, two Blacks, and a Potter! :D And, I now listen to Mugglecast in every lunch break! It's amazing, although I think my colleagues think I'm going crazy because I break out into laughter every ten minutes...

Right sorry for my random rant. Hi. Thank you very much to all of you readers/alerters/reviewers/favouriters... as always. I've given you all another goal though: 150 alerts? I'm on 148? I think you could do it. Also thanks to anonymous reviewers: _Camille, Sean _and _Dani,_ and _Squid7000_ who I can't PM to say thanks.

I hope you like this chapter! :D

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Harry Potter; I think that's the simplest way I could put it.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty Five- Anything But)**

"Happy birthday to you!" Rose sang, opening the curtains around Scorpius' bed as she did so.

"Wha-?" he mumbled, turning over and pulling the pillow over his head.

"Happy birthday to you!" she carried on, climbing on to his bed and (admittedly without thinking about it) placing a leg either side of him so she was sat on his stomach... some would call it straddling, Rose decided to stick with sitting. Either way, Scorp pulled the pillow away from his eyes a lot more energetically.

"Happy birthday to Scorpius, happy birthday to you!" She smiled, and he blinked back for a moment before smiling back. Then she leant forward and kissed him, unsure of what else to really do in the position she had put herself in.

"Morning."  
"Morning."

"Guess who's seventeen?" she asked.

"I- I am." He replied, as if he'd only just realised. He reached for his wand from his bedside table, and flicked it so Al's curtains snapped open.

"What the-?" Al exclaimed, sitting up quickly as he reached for his wand so he looked almost prepared to duel once he was upright. He glanced over at them and groaned. "I swear to god, there has to be some law about waking up to your cousin and best friend looking like that-"  
"I prepared for this." Rose replied simply, before shouting "Maddie!" and smiling back down at Scorp.

On cue, Madeline burst through the door and jumped onto Al's bed before kissing him energetically.

Rose smiled at them together for a moment, before her pride turned into slight revulsion and she grimaced at Scorp before moving so she was lying next to him instead of on top of him.

"Happy birthday, mate." Al said, much more awake now.

"Yeah, thanks." Scorpius replied, not looking towards him and instead just smiling at Rose.

"Yeah, happy birthday Scorpius."  
"Thanks Maddie." Scorpius mumbled, still looking into Rose's eyes and nowhere else.

"I... I have got you a present, mate, but it's... it's not with me. It's-"  
"It's fine, Al. Don't worry about it." He sighed, sitting up. Rose was almost compelled to sit up with him, like she had to be near him.

Scorpius didn't wear shirts to bed. Neither did Al, but Rose didn't care quite as much about that. Because when Scorp sat up his bedcovers fell to his waist, revealing his torso; it turned out Scorpius didn't need to practice Quidditch to stay hot.  
"No, but I should; it's your birthday and you got me something and I just went and forgot-"  
"It really is fine. I tell you what; you can catch the snitch as my present."  
"I will. God, today's match is going to be as short as possible; otherwise it'll just be embarrassing."

Rose sighed; the talk of Quidditch already bored her.

"That's true. I can't be bothered today. I was thinking though, Hufflepuff have a really weak defence and we just have to stalk their chasers..."

Rose rolled her eyes across the gap between the two beds at Maddie, then wordlessly tilted her head towards the door. Both girls stood up without saying anything, and made to leave.  
"Woah, where are you two going?" Al whined.

"We're leaving you and your Quidditch talk." Rose replied, not bothering to look at Al and instead just looking at Scorpius. "Meet you for breakfast in twenty minutes-?"  
"Wha...! Twenty!" Al whined. "What do you need twenty bloody minutes for; I'm starving."  
"So we can look beautiful when we cheer you on, Al." Madeline replied.

Al nodded, and Scorpius laughed. "That's the point where you're meant to tell them they don't need to make themselves look beautiful and that they already do."

"Oh." Al sighed. "What he said."  
Rose rolled her eyes, and she and Maddie walked down the boys' stairs then up their own into their empty dorm.

After a while of staring at her blank reflection in the mirror, Rose gave up on her hair. She turned, and saw that Madeline seemed to have also given up on getting ready, leaning her head against the side of her bed tiredly.

"Hey, you alright?" Rose asked, standing up from her seat beside the mirror and walking towards her friend.

She and Maddie had always been friends, but Maddie used to be too quiet to ever actually talk to. Since Al that seemed to have changed. Madeline was probably Rose's best friend now; they talked whenever they were together, about mostly pointless subjects.

Maddie sighed. "I'm glad you're in the same boat as me now."  
Rose blinked back confusedly. "Boat?"  
"I... Al's seventeen. And so's Scorpius. And now they can legally do things that you and I can't and... I don't know if he expects me to, you know?"  
Rose blinked, trying to unravel Maddie's riddle without looking stupid, but then she nodded and sat down on the floor next to her.

She hadn't thought about that.

Scorp was seventeen. _Seventeen. _He could legally do magic, drink alcohol, apparate, have sex... Rose suddenly felt incredibly young; he was an adult.

Since the room of requirement, Rose hadn't even thought about her and Scorpius' previous plans. They'd completely taken a backseat... but now she considered that they shouldn't have, since she now had no idea where she stood.

"He... They won't expect anything. They don't want to hurt us so-"  
"Al's different."  
"He still wouldn't want to hurt you-"  
"Yeah, but I've done it, haven't I? What if he thinks I'm just a complete slag who'll sleep with anyone? What if that's the only reason he's with me; because he's too stupid to remember-"  
"Remember what?"  
"Nothing. Nothing, I just... Seventeen. We have adult boyfriends, Rose. And it's alright for you because you turn seventeen at Easter but me... June, Rose. What if he won't wait that long and then he finds some other stupid girl who'll just do anything after some party and-?"  
"Maddie." Rose turned to her friend, who now appeared much smaller than she normally did. She'd pulled her knees to her chest, and had tears in her eyes which didn't match her steady voice. "He's not just with you for sex. He's probably terrified; you've done more than him." Rose may have been hallucinating, but Maddie seemed to shake her head a little. "Hey, he really likes you."  
She nodded, then sat up straight again. "I know."

Then she stood up, grabbed her jumper, and left the dorm leaving Rose staring after her.

She sighed to herself, then followed her friend and arrived downstairs to see Al and Maddie intertwined and Scorpius stood next to them looking bored.

"Hey."

"Great; breakfast!" Al smiled, breaking away from Mads and pulling her to the portrait hole.  
"I'm surprised he's even hungry; he's been eating Maddie's face every time he's seen her."

Rose laughed and reached for Scorpius' hand.

They left together, and Rose just smiled up at him. "So, seventeen."  
"Yeah, seventeen. Sounds really old, don't you think?"  
"Yeah, you old man." Rose teased in reply, her conversation with Maddie echoing ain her mind as she spoke. "So, have you got many cards?" she asked, deliberately changing the subject.  
"Er, yeah. Lily gave me one, and Fred and Anna gave me a joint one. And my parents sent me some things over..." his voice trailed away.

"You can talk about your Dad, you know." Rose pointed out. "I know he's your Dad, not just Draco Malfoy and I-"  
"No, it's not that." Scorpius replied, stopping walking and pulling her hand so they were almost hidden in the shadows down the corridor.

"What is it?"

"Well, I had to ask my parents' permission to stay at yours for Easter-"  
"And they said you couldn't come." Rose assumed, her heart sinking a little.

Her theory was that this Easter would mean Ron would finally accept Scorpius. There was no way her father would be able to dislike him once he met him and spent time with him; everything would be perfect after Easter.

But now that wasn't happening. And her mind was completely changed from her petty problems of a second ago to the problem that her Dad may never accept Scorpius.

"No, that's not it either."  
"Oh?" Rose tilted her head.

"They said it was fine, for the first week-"  
"And then you have to go home?" Rose finished his sentence.

"No. Well yes, kind of. Except Mum wants you to come with me."  
"Go with you? To your house?"  
"Yeah. I completely get it if you don't want to but-"  
"To Malfoy Manor?" Rose said quietly. Something about those two words made her feel like she may never breathe again.

"I know; it's stupid. I'll tell Mum you can't, and I'll just stay with you for the first week and then go-"  
"Why?" she said quietly.

"Why what?"  
"Why do your family want me over?"  
"The same reason your family want to meet me; my Mum wants to meet the girl I've been obsessed with for years."  
Rose smiled a little, but not really. "What about your Dad?"  
"My Dad is like your Dad. He doesn't like it, but he needs to get used to it."  
Rose nodded. Draco Malfoy not liking something seemed a lot scarier than Ron Weasley not liking something.

"Look, Rose I get it, I know it'd be awful for you so-"  
"I want to go."

Why she said that, she didn't know. The words had fallen out of her mouth without her control. A part of her really did want to go; it meant she would understand Scorpius so much more, and she had a weird morbid curiosity about the manor.

The rest of her was terrified.

But somehow, when Scorpius smiled down at her excitedly, Rose couldn't find the words to take it back.

So instead she shrugged and said "happy birthday" and after hugging, the two of them continued towards the Great Hall.

Rose worried about the coming Easter with every step.

...

Dominique did quite like Quidditch. She wasn't like her cousins, who loved it to the point of obsession, but she did enjoy watching it. More than that, she loved the break from routine that Quidditch matches would provide. Instead of getting up late and hanging out in the castle like they did almost every other weekend, everyone would get up earlier and head down to the Quidditch pitch and chant and yell and scream despite the fact that not many of them really cared about the result. It broke up the time while Dom waited to finally see her family again.

She desperately wanted to go home, find Victoire, and sort everything out. Every day she would think of their argument when she woke up, when she fell asleep, and most of the time in between. The problem was that it wasn't as simple as just apologising for insulting each other now, or as easy as Dominique apologising for ever thinking or feeling those things or for telling Vic in the first place and not just keeping them inside. No, now they would have to arrange to meet up, discuss how they'd avoided each other and hadn't sent Christmas or birthday gifts or letters. The time they'd waited meant they'd just been left to stew over everything...

Dom thought about it every day, and this morning was no different. She hadn't even opened her eyes yet.

When she did she saw Anna's bed empty, meaning Anna had never actually come back the night before. She tilted her head, to see Roxy standing fully dressed in front of her.

Roxanne always wore perfect clothes. Dominique had always thought this; while Dom followed the muggle clothing trends quite closely, so she looked good but also original to the wizarding world, Roxy wore simple clothes but looked amazing every time, effortlessly.

Today for example, she'd thrown on an old t-shirt, grey cardigan and baggy jeans, and looked perfect. Dom hadn't even thought about her outfit for the day yet; she had no idea what she'd do if she didn't wear school uniform most of the time.

"Morning." She mumbled, while Roxy looked down at her.

"You're up late."

"Am I?"  
"Yeah, the match starts in half an hour." Her cousin shrugged in reply, reaching behind her to her bed and producing toast.

Dom hardly noticed though, because she had gotten out of bed at the mention of so little time, had grabbed her toothbrush from the bathroom and began to clean her teeth whilst rummaging through her trunk as nonchalantly as she could though secretly panicking.

She pulled out her uniform, revealing the mass of crumpled clothes beneath. Toothpaste fell from her mouth onto her preferred jeans and she groaned, turning and spitting into the sink and then getting her wand from her bedside table and cleaning it away. She glanced up to see Roxy watching her.

"How can you be so relaxed about that?"  
"Relaxed about what?" Dom asked her back.

"Getting your clothes dirty; I'd freak out."

Dom shrugged as simply as she could, despite the fact it was a lie. She had freaked out in her head, but she was so used to hiding her emotions that Roxy obviously didn't realise.

She reached back into her trunk, and mentally tried to put her outfit together. As she did so, she pulled out the clothes she pictured and threw them onto her bed. Then she collected them up, and walked into the bathroom and got ready quickly. Once she was dressed though, she reached into the gap between the shower and the wall and pulled out her secret makeup bag, sorting herself in the mirror and twisting her hair around her finger.

When she left the bathroom again, she knew she looked as _effortlessly_ _pretty_ as Roxy genuinely did without any effort. She was wearing skinny jeans, high top trainers and a cropped pink jumper.

"We're going to get rubbish seats." Dom moaned as they walked up the rickety Quidditch stand stairs some ten minutes later.

"Nah, we'll go and sit with Fred; it'll be fine." Roxy replied, continuing up the stairs. "Although..." Roxy bit her lip, and she stopped walking for a moment.

"Although what?"  
"Never mind." She shrugged in reply, continuing up the stairs, leaving Dom a little bewildered.

In the staircase to the stands it was dark, gold and red shadows cast upon everyone as the light streamed through the material, but when Dom reached the top sunlight showered her.

She looked around the stand, trying to find the seat Fred sat at to commentate. Sure enough, he was sat on the far top corner, McGonagall and the other teachers sitting between Dom and her target.

Roxy, though, didn't seem to have an issue with excusing herself past the teachers; in fact they almost seemed to welcome or expect her and then look confusedly at Dom as she followed.

"Good morning, headmistress." Roxy said, nodding at Professor McGonagall when she reached her.

"Hello, Roxanne." The headmistress replied. "Come to finally make use of your head girl seats, have you?"

Dominique turned her head in an attempt to understand what McGonagall was talking about. Sure enough, she saw three seats a few rows in front of Fred, marked _Reserved for the head boy and girls._

She turned back to Roxy, feeling somehow responsible that they were up here.

Roxy, however, just shook her head. "Oh no, I thought we'd go and sit with my brother today."

She signalled to Dom at the same time, and McGonagall nodded. "Well, try and keep his attention on the game, he tends to get distracted."

"Of course." Roxy nodded. "Enjoy the game." She smiled, turning away and walking towards her brother, leaving Dom to smile at her headmistress awkwardly before following her cousin.

"_They_ sit up here? Then Roxy why are we-" Dom asked once she out of earshot of the teachers.

"It's fine." Roxy replied simply, before punching her brother on the arm. "Hey, loser."  
Fred blinked, he seemed to be in his own world until this interruption. "Oh, hey. What are you two doing up here-?"  
"Someone slept in." Rox tilted her head.

"Someone forgot to wake me up." Dom added.

"Someone didn't realise she was a human alarm clock." Roxy teased.

"Ok, stop your bickering." Fred sighed. He seemed tired, Dom noticed.

Roxy was, however, the one who pointed this out.

"Yeah, I'm shattered. Why did the rules have to change the day before the Quidditch match? Anna's going to be dead on her feet after last night, we didn't sleep at all and-"

"New rule: you aren't allowed to talk to people." Dom interrupted. "Budge up."

Fred obeyed, moving along his bench and pulling his loudspeaker (which was in the commentator's box for tradition as opposed to actual use) with him.

"Are you two going to squash me all match? Because it means you'll have to be quiet and not talk about people's outfits or-"  
"We don't talk about people's clothes!"  
"Oh really?" Fred challenged, before scanning opposite him. "So what's your thoughts on Rose and Maddie then?"  
"Thoughts? We don't have any thoughts." Roxy replied indignantly, before leaning over to Dom and hurriedly stage-whispering "I love Maddie's skirt and Rose's shirt."

Dominique smiled to herself, knowing that Roxy was mainly just trying to wind up her brother and didn't really care about clothes. The best bit was that it didn't feel fake; Roxy was genuinely laughing, at that moment anyway.

"Oh look, it's Weasley corner!" Professor Ridler, head of Gryffindor and Care of Magical Creatures, said excitedly, walking up the stairs towards them.

"Morning, professor." Roxy replied, smiling up at him.

"How do our chances look then today, Fred?" he asked.

He was the type of man who liked to win; he was very much a manly man. This meant the boys loved him, of course, while the girls just put up with him.

"Looking good, sir." Fred lied.

"Really? Because I asked Madame Applewhite and she seemed to think that you hadn't practiced since January?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, well, who needs to practice when you have a team like ours?" Fred replied, fakely enthusiastic.

"That is true, Weasley. Well, we'll talk after the game, I'm sure!"  
"Absolutely, sir." Fred replied, while the girls nodded politely.

"You suck up!" Dom teased, once Ridler was talking to McGonagall.

"I am not-!"  
"_Yes sir, no sir_-"

"Yeah, well I don't want him to fire James do I?"  
"What do you mean?" Roxy asked.

"Well he's right, isn't he? They haven't practiced for months and it's because of J. He could lose his captaincy because of that, if they lose-"  
"Yeah, but they won't, will they?"  
"They haven't practiced, at all. I swear, I would kill James on behalf of all of Gryffindor if his girlfriend hadn't cheated on..." he'd spoken without thinking, Dom knew it, but the second the words had slipped from his mouth Dom had began to mouth crazy words at him and his mouth stopped moving mid-word. "Sorry, Rox that was so stupid of me-"  
"It's alright." She replied, surprisingly still smiling, almost laughing, at Fred's nerves. "You can say it; he cheated on me. _They _cheated on me."

Fred and Dom just nodded, unsure of what else to do.

"Although, she wasn't James' girlfriend so technically she didn't-"  
"You can't be justifying-!" Fred yelled so loudly some of the teachers turned their heads.

"No." She whispered. "No of course not I just... she didn't cheat on him, not really."  
"Yeah, she did, Roxy. Everyone thought they would get back together; it was just a fight. It wasn't a break up, not really."  
"I know but-"  
"Shhh!" Dom hissed, since she had looked up and seen none other than the two people they were discussing walking towards their seats just two rows in front.

"He's here. _They're _here. I'm going to bloody kill-"  
"Fred!" McGonagall commanded, and the three teens looked down to see Madame Applewhite looking up expectantly from the far away ground.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to today's Quidditch match; Hufflepuff vs Gyffindor. What a nailbiter!" Fred's voice was suddenly booming through the speakers below, although from next to him he was just talking normally, his wand pressed to his throat. "It's the fourth match of the year, and for those of you who missed the first three because you were stupid, in detention or have some weird memory problem; in October Gryffindor beat Slytherin with 240-0. Man, that was good... anyway, in December Hufflepuff beat Ravenclaw with 200-60, and we all know what a boring game that was, and in January Ravenclaw successfully beat the slithering ones with 170-80. This means that Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are tying for first place in the Quidditch cup; the winner of today's match takes the lead."

Dominique thought Fred was rather skilled, to be able to talk so easily with so many people listening without any sort of plan or script in front of him. She turned, considering telling Roxanne this, to see her friend staring at the back of two people's heads; two people that she knew all too well.

"Now, for any of the complete Quidditch virgins out there-"  
McGonagall cleared her throat, as if this was some sort of warning. Regardless, Fred continued.

"As I was saying, if you haven't seen Quidditch before, the Gryffindors are the one in the red; Hufflepuff in yellow. Glad we got that straightened out. Now, the teams'll be out any second now, but until then I'd just like to remind all of you girls (and possible boys) not to grab hold of any of the players broom under any circumstances. None of us want James Potter to be flying around with Christine Walker hanging on his broom again; that wasn't fun for anyone concerned. We get it; you're excited, but please keep your hands to yourselves, yeah?" Fred sighed, turning and rolling his eyes at Dom as if he was bored. He then looked past her and saw Roxanne, and looked at Dom worriedly. Then the crowd began to yell a little louder and he looked back towards the ground.

"Oh look, here come the teams now! Don't the Gryffindors look cool in red! So, teams. Gryffindor beaters are Lily Potter and that red hot Hugo Weasley down there; I don't know any guys except me who pulls off ginger hair quite like he does. Or his Dad. Or my Dad... Anyway, the beautiful and talented Anna Wood and Jake Thomas are chasers, along with the always cool captain James Potter. And then there's the seeker, Al Potter. Did you know he's the best seeker Hogwarts has ever seen? Never missed the snitch in his entire history of playing! Now that is skill. And then there's the keeper, Scorpius Malfoy, who - may I add- is celebrating his seventeenth birthday today! Oh yes, that's right, boy becomes man and all that jazz. In fact, I think we should all sing him happy birthday."

Dom laughed a little, looking down and seeing Scorpius looking up embarrassedly while Al pointed and laughed at him and the rest of the team looked fully prepared to break out into song or laughter.

"He's going to kill you." Dominique told Fred, who shook his head.

"Come on, Dom, you'll sing with me won't you?" he asked, his voice booming across the pitch. Dom shook her head, but since most of the school couldn't see this, Fred stated "Right, Dominique Weasley is singing guys; it's a cool thing to do. Let's do it properly now; happy birthday to you..."  
Dom joined the singing, unwillingly swept into it; even the teachers did. Fred had that effect on people, somehow you just couldn't say no to him. He even twisted the end of it into a rendition of the school song, which Fred finished by standing and putting his hand on his heart dramatically.

Her cousin was an idiot. A fun idiot, but an idiot all the same.

Fred sat back down when he'd fully received his applause, then resumed his run down of the teams. "Oh, and in Hufflepuff we have seeker Amy Jackson, keeper Russell Oliver, chasers Angus Mears, James Hale and Elle Murphy and Hayley McIntosh and Sarah Nicholson, the captain, are the two beaters. Interesting. Let's play!"

The Quidditch players down below kicked off from the floor after quick instructions from Madame Applewhite, and then they were in the sky.

Dom wished she was as good at flying as some of her cousins; she wished she had a talent. She was sat next to the funniest guy in the school, and the smartest girl, with other members of her family zooming through the sky. She felt even more useless and inadequate than normal.

"And Anna Wood has the quaffle; no surprises there." Fred commented. "But woah, there's a bludger heading straight for her and nope, it's all good, Hugo Weasley's got rid of that. Wow, the Gryffindor team are looking really good up there; probably thanks to all the practice!" Fred said, sarcastically raising his eyebrows at Dom as he said it. Then he paused for a second and nodded at Roxy on Dom's other side; Dom turned to see her still staring into the same place.

"And woah, when did the Hufflepuffs get the quaffle? I must've missed that, well anyway they're heading for the hoops and- yep, that's why we have James Potter as our captain..."

Dom stopped watching the game, and leant towards her cousin on her other side.

"Are you alright?" she asked her, watching the same two people Roxy eyes were practically burning a hole in.

"Do... do you reckon they're together?" she asked quietly. "I don't- I don't care I just... I just wonder."  
"Roxy-" Dom began to reply, before being interrupted by a yell from her other side.

"Hufflepuff have only gone and scored! Oh, bloody... Still, what was Malfoy meant to do with three chasers heading towards him, eh?"

Roxy was still looking at Dom expectantly, and Dom turned her head and looked at Louisa and Craig. She couldn't tell what the answer was, the way they were watching the match told her nothing.

She sighed. "I'll tell you when the game is over, yeah?" she suggested.

Roxy nodded, then looked up over their heads and began to watch the match.

Dom, on the other hand, studied Louisa and Craig closely.

They weren't holding hands or in fact touching in any way. They were almost unnaturally far apart; Dom wondered if they were maybe trying to hide something?

They weren't even looking in the same direction though; Craig's head was moving in the same way as Roxy's, following the quaffle as it was passed between the chasers. Louisa's wasn't. Louisa's head stayed more still; moving more slowly and more smoothly. Dom tried to follow her eye line and work out exactly what Louisa was looking at.

James.

Louisa's head moved in whatever direction James was, as if she couldn't tear her eyes from him.

"And Al Potter is diving towards the ground! Yes, that's right; his popularity, girlfriend and endless Quidditch still have finally gotten too much for him and he's... He's only gone and caught the snitch! I was wrong; he's not suicidal, he's just won the match! Final score is 150-10 after only twenty minutes of playing! Well, that was easy."

Fred stood up, cheering at this point and singing some self-made song "Potter is our king."

Dominique clapped, and leant towards Roxy.

"They're not together. Louisa still loves James, whether she cheated on him or not."

Roxy seemed to smile, then stood up and cheered with her brother.

Dom was left sitting down, surrounded by happy people.

She was anything but happy.


	46. Rescue Attempts

Evening all! Wow, I'm getting really regular with updates; I'm so proud of myself!

I got a few less reviews for that chapter, but the ones I did get I really do appreciate so much! Big thanks to anonymous reviewers, as always: _volant au-dessus, Dani_ and _Just me_.  
Please keep them coming everyone! 150 alerts; I really do love you guys!

This is kind of the last chapter before all the kids go off for Easter. Eeeep, how excited is everyone! I can't wait now, but that's because I know what's going to happen... :L

_**Disclaimer: **__The world of Harry Potter is not real, nor does it belong to me. Unfortunately.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty Six- Rescue Attempts)**

Quidditch used to be the most important thing to James.

He used to dream of winning matches, constantly talk about tactics and think about Gryffindor's chances of winning the cup.

And then Louisa came along, and she became the most important thing to him.

He dreamt of their future, constantly talked with her or about her, and thought about nothing but the next time he would see her.

And then she slept with Craig.

And now nothing seemed important to him.

And now he had nightmares about empty, black, inescapable rooms, constantly found he had nothing to say or talk about, and thought about... about Louisa; that part didn't seem to go away.

The match was over, and everyone was cheering about the result; Fred was carrying Al down the corridor towards the common room, Lily, Hugo, Fred, Scorpius and Jake running around them crazily with almost the entire house following them in a crowd.

James just walked behind them all, watching the celebration as if it was miles away. He didn't feel like part of it; he hadn't felt like part of any of it. He'd left the team talk to Al, barely even wishing his players luck and then he'd flown around the sky automatically, not registering the score or his teammates yet constantly aware of hundreds of eyes on him.

He was sure, though, that two specific eyes were watching him for the entire game. Two beautiful, bright blue eyes.

Why? He didn't know. He cared, but he didn't know.

Watching the rest of them attempt to climb through the portrait hole was pretty emptily entertaining for James, especially when Al hit his head on the roof. It was the kind of stupid thing he used to laugh at, but now he could barely even smile.

He didn't bother to stay in the common room and he didn't reply to the congratulations buzzing around him; he just went to his dorm and climbed into bed.

He lay there for what felt like hours; staring up at the ceiling blankly. He could hear the pulsing music from the common room; the sound of shrieking and cheering and chanting and singing but he didn't react to any of it.

He was trying to make himself unaffected by outsiders; outside noise, outside feelings, outside actions. He wanted to become one of those people who didn't care about anyone, or anything else. Caring didn't seem to get him anywhere, he realised.

It wasn't working; every night he would lie down and try to be selfish, but end up worrying.

The worst part was he worried about no one but her.

He worried that his family were being awful to her, or that she was letting her school work standards fall because of all of this. He worried that she might not be sleeping; he worried that she could get ill from stress. He worried that she might not have been safe with Craig, and had gotten pregnant or... or anything.

Mostly, he worried that she was feeling how he did; horribly, heartbreakingly alone.

His thoughts, having gravitated back to Louisa as they always did, were interrupted when the door opened.

"James, what're you doing up here?" Fred asked, walking towards James' bed so he forced himself to sit up.

"I don't feel like celebrating." James shrugged.

"Oh come on, mate, it'll make you feel better. Trust me." Fred tried again. "You have something to celebrate here; we won."

"Yeah, no thanks to me. I don't deserve to be captain; I don't lead them or-"  
"J, you've had a lot going on, we get it."  
James shrugged at his cousin. "I still don't feel like celebrating."

"Come on! Look, just because of one stupid girl you can't..." He stopped talking, and looked away from James' eyes. Maybe they showed the sadness he was feeling? "James, you have to get over this sometime-"  
"Get over it?" James asked, an emotion he hadn't felt for a while returning at these words.

"Look, don't get angry, I just mean that-"  
"You've got no idea, Fred."  
"I know! I know I don't! But we try, James. You and Roxy, you don't talk to us, you don't tell us what's going on and we- we're trying but it's getting too hard." He sighed frustratedly, seemingly fed up. His smile and energy from moments ago had disappeared as quickly as James' anger had appeared. "This isn't you, J. You don't sit upstairs in your dorm with the party going on downstairs; you are the party. We do get that what Louisa and Craig did... it's really messed you two up, but please don't forget who you were because I really miss that guy."  
James shook his head. Fred was never honest with him; they discussed girls and Quidditch and brooms and music and... they never discussed anything real, not really. And now Fred was trying for the first time in forever, but it didn't seem enough.

"Fred, I can't be that guy anymore."  
"Why?"  
He sighed. He wanted someone to understand, but he couldn't explain. "Imagine it was Anna, not Louisa." Fred nodded, as if he was obeying. "Now would you feel like partying?"

Fred shook his head, and stood up. "No, I wouldn't. But three months later, I would think about it."

Then he walked out, James glaring after him.

No one understood, not even Roxanne. He swore that no one felt quite how he did about Louisa.

She hadn't just been the most important thing in his life; she had been what he lived for. And now she was gone, she'd taken his life with her.

...

"Is he coming down?" Rose watched Roxy ask her brother the question everyone else wanted to ask when he arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

Fred shook his head almost angrily, and pushed past her.

"What happened?" Dom asked, following him. Rose automatically followed, as did Lily who was at her side. Roxy, on the other hand, shrugged and headed towards the table where the drinks were laid out.

"He just... he... I don't know!" Fred shouted, throwing himself down on the sofa.

"Oh god, what's going on?" Al asked, as he and Maddie were already sat on the seats nearby.

"James." Lily told him, sitting on the armchair.

It felt weird to be sat down, whilst everyone around Rose was dancing and cheering about the Quidditch win. She didn't even know where Scorpius was at the moment, and it was his birthday party, but the lack of James was distracting her too much.

"You can't get mad at him for being upset, Fred." Anna told him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"I can when it's been three bloody months, and nothing's changed!" he crossed his arms childishly. "Why does he have to...? He's given up on everything. Everything! Quidditch, partying, he doesn't even bother talking to us anymore; it's ridiculous!"

"Yeah, but-" Anna began  
"You said yeah. You agree; he has given up-"  
"Yes, but we don't understand what he's thinking, do we? We don't understand how he's feeling-"  
"Yeah, because he won't tell us."  
Rose understood Fred's frustration, she really did. She knew how hard the older ones were trying to get to be understanding, but James refused to even try to feel better.

She also felt for James, though; wasn't it his decision if he wanted to come downstairs and celebrate with them? Rose thought so, but told herself that she wasn't allowed an opinion; she'd not been a part of the campaign to look after James. She'd hardly spoken to him in what felt like forever; initially she'd felt bad about it, but now she thought that part of it was his fault too; he hadn't made an effort so why should she?

"Look, I just don't think we should leave him on his own-" Lily began.  
"Why? He's not exactly going to throw himself out of the window, is he?" Al replied.

"No, but he's going to feel left out up there-"

"He's left himself out, Lily." Fred said simply.

They were silent for a moment, before Fred stood up, claiming he needed a drink, and Anna followed him away.

"He's being a prat." Al said simply.

"Who, Fred or James?"  
"Both of them." Rose told Lily.

Lily nodded, and Al shrugged and stood up, walking away with Maddie towards the dancing Gryffindors.

Rose sat in the seat they'd vacated and sighed.  
"Rose, will you talk to James for me?"

She looked up at Lily confusedly. "Why me?"  
"Because I already have, and I thought I made a difference but I didn't-"  
"Then why would I?"

"You might not. I just... I want my brother back. And you might be able to help with that."  
Rose shook her head. "I can't, Lils. It's Scorp's birthday and I should be with him right now and-"  
"You're choosing Scorpius over James? Your boyfriend over family?" Lily challenged, tilting her head.

Rose realised she'd dug her own grave and left herself with no option.

"Fine," she sighed. "Fine, I'll go talk to James."  
As she walked up the stairs to the boys dorms, she realised she was pretty much obeying the rules of her cousin who was two years younger than her.

Rose didn't bother to knock when she arrived outside the seventh year dorms; she knew James would tell her to leave if she did.

She saw her cousin lying on his bed, on top of the crinkled bed covers, still dressed in his dirty Quidditch clothes.

"Hey." She said quietly, unsure of how else to alert him of her presence.

He sat up, and then looked at her curiously. "Rose, what're you doing up here?"

"Lily forced me up here." She said honestly, standing awkwardly by the door after she closed it behind her.

"Right, well that's nice." He replied, swinging his legs off the side of the bed and running his hands through his hair.  
"She wants me to get you back, James, but I don't know what I can do..." she sighed. "I can promise everything will be ok-"  
He stood up, which made Rose jump.

"How? How will it all be ok, Rose?"

His reaction threw her back to the time he'd beaten Scorpius up. For such a long time he'd hadn't seemed like the same person; suddenly he did. Surely her cousins didn't want this guy back?

"I-I don't know I just-" she stuttered, hating herself for actually being _scared_ of him.

He was just angry at the world, not her. He was angry at Louisa and Fred and Craig and... not Rose. She knew that, yet she was still a little afraid.

"If it was Malfoy, right? If Malfoy slept with Madeline, for example... would '_everything be ok'_ then?"

Rose shook her head, stepping backwards as her cousin paced back and forward.

"Exactly, Rose! So you should understand now, but you don't! Nobody does! That's the problem; I'm sat here whining about it all, still. Everyone else has moved on and I..."  
Rose almost felt as if it didn't make a difference if she was there or not; he'd still be screaming.

He'd stopped walking and was now looking straight at her.

"You love Scorpius, don't you?" She nodded in reply, still scared yet slowly feeling less and less fearful of him, and more and more pitiful.

"And if he was gone you'd... I feel like I can't breathe without her. I don't feel like this is living any more, I feel like I'm just waiting."

Fear had completely evaporated now; Rose just felt incredibly bad for him. He was standing there, in the middle of his room, looking completely alone and yet somehow smothered at the same time.

"Everyone expects me to be mad, and get angry. And I don't feel that. I just feel-"  
"Sad?" Rose suggested, feeling like a child with her pathetic adjectives.

And then Rose saw something that, normally, she wouldn't expect from her strong, brave cousin. In this moment, though, she knew it was coming; tears dripped from his eyes and he started shaking.

Rose knew what to do, somehow, and put her arms around him.

"I'm so pathetic." He mumbled from over her shoulder. He was much taller than her, but her standing on her tiptoes and him crouching a little meant she was actually able to hug him properly.

"That's not true, James. You're just heartbroken-"  
"But I don't want to be. Not over someone who cheats on me."  
She shrugged, her arms still around his back. "You can't choose who you fall in love with; you're only human."

He stepped away from her and sat down on his bed, wiping away tears. "Maybe I don't want to be human. Maybe I don't want to feel anything."  
"You can't; you loved her." She sat next to him. She didn't know why she was talking about things that she didn't understand; she had no idea how he felt, she'd never had her heart broken like he had.

"I love her. Still. Even though she... out of principle I can't go near her; I have to hate her and be angry and then get over her and move on with some other girl who'll never be like her and-"

"No, James. You don't _have_ to do anything."

"But I want to." He sighed. Rose put her arm around his shoulder, in an awkward attempt to be comforting. It didn't work, and she slid it back onto the bed covers.

"James, broken hearts heal. Just like my broken arm did, or the time your broke your leg; it gets better."

"How do you know hearts are the same?"  
"I don't, I just hope." She sighed, and tried to try a different tactic with him; instead of talking about things she didn't understand she tried to hit him with things that she knew. "James, do you think Roxy's alright?"  
He bit his lip. "I think... She's getting better, I think."  
"Maybe her method's working, James. Maybe pretending that everything's ok is actually healing her more than sitting and dwelling on everything that happened. Maybe the normality is helping her-"  
"Normality?" he echoed, before shaking his head. "My normality is Lou-"  
She shook her own head. "No, it's not, James. Before her. Back when you were crazy about Quidditch and beat up our boyfriends and played pranks with Fred and... that's your normality. Nothing to do with her."

He nodded, staring into the distance as if he was thinking.

"Alright." He said quietly, looking determined.  
"Alright." She echoed, before jokingly suggesting "So, feel like partying?"

"With tear streaks down my face? No thanks."

Rose sighed; she'd thought she'd got through to him a little but he was still closing himself off from everyone else. "James-"  
"But tell the guys that Quidditch practice is first thing tomorrow, no excuses."

Rose felt herself smiling widely, and stood up. She turned to see him smiling back at her. "Will do."

"Rose?" she span around at her name, after having half opened the door.

"Yeah, James?"  
"Thanks. I don't really know what for but... thanks anyway."

She shrugged. "I didn't do anything, James. I just helped you realise what you already knew; you can survive without her, but only if you want to."  
He nodded, and then she shut the door behind her.

She walked down a few steps, before bumping into no one other than her boyfriend. After talking about broken hearts for a while, she was really glad to see him, glad her heart was completely whole because of him.

"Rose! Hey, where've you been?" He asked her, his head level with hers since she stood on a higher step.

"Sorry, I was with James. I know it's your birthday and I should've been with you but I-"  
"It's fine." He interrupted, nodding as if he understood.

Rose still wasn't completely sure, so decided to make it up to him; she decided to make the most of her whole, beating heart.

She wordlessly took his hand, and walked up the remaining stairs until she was outside his door.

"We've not done this in a while." She said quietly, before pushing the door open.

He nodded, as if he was just obeying her commands, and followed her into his own room and shut the door behind him.

And the kind of bewildered, confused look on his face made her love him even more, though she didn't know it was possible.

She kissed him, pushing him backwards so he had to lean on the door he'd just shut.

"Wow, we've really not done this in a while." He said, in between kissing her.

Rose shook her head as reply then began to run her hands through his hair, and down the back of his neck.

"What're you doing?" he laughed a little, as she moved her lips so she was kissing his neck instead of his lips.

"I don't know." She mumbled. "Trying to make it up to you-"  
He stopped moving. Rose hadn't even realised that he was holding her until he let go of her waist and she sank to the floor.

"Making what up?" he asked her, tilting his head.

"All those months of blanking you, and then not being with you on your birthday and..." Trying to think of another reason she was an awful girlfriend to add to her list, she realised something she'd forgotten to do today. "Your present." She sighed, stepping away from him and looking at the floor. "I-I can't believe I forgot; it's on my bedside table and I-I-"  
"Rose, it's ok." He said slowly, putting his hands on her shoulders. Rose looked up at him, and couldn't see a hint of a lie in his eyes. "You've had a lot on; you only got out of hospital yesterday and-"

"Stop trying to make excuses for me." She whispered, seeming to lose her voice in guilt.

"I'm not, but I don't need presents when I have you."

"Look, I'm going to go and get it." She made for the door, but Scorp put his arm in the way.  
"I told you, I don't need it. And besides, it's not my birthday anymore; it's gone midnight-"  
"What? Since when?"  
"Since about twenty minutes ago."

"Oh. But you can have it a few minutes late-"  
He shook his head, smiling. "I'd rather have a few minutes alone with the girl I love, before she goes downstairs and gets bombarded by her family again."

Rose smiled back, stepping towards him and kissing him again, more sweetly this time, feeling their hearts beating at the same time as her chest pressed close to his.

"What did you get me anyway? I bet it doesn't beat that." he asked, looking down at her.

"It does." She replied simply, before kissing him again.

She loved him. She loved him just as much as she told James she did; to the point where she wouldn't be able to breathe without knowing Scorp was with her. She thought about how much it would hurt, to have all of that ripped away from her, the way it was ripped for James, and without really thinking mumbled "Promise me you won't ever sleep with Maddie?"

He laughed a little, pulling a face down at her. "Eh? You're thinking of Madeline right now?"  
"Sorry, it's just something James said and... never mind." She leant her head forward to kiss him again, but he leant back. "I know it's insane, I was just thinking out loud." She shrugged.

He laughed a little. "I'll never sleep with Maddie."  
"Well... good."

And then another conversation from the day weaved it's way into her head.

"You're seventeen." She pointed out, walking away from him and sitting on the bed, and then regretting it as she realised what the earlier conversation had been about.

"Wow, you're really on fire today." He laughed, sitting next to her.

She bit her lip, and he looked at her as if he knew something was bothering her. So she told him what she was thinking; "You can legally do... things I can't."  
"I can." He agreed, a little simply before he realised what she was talking about. "But, Rose, just because I can do something doesn't mean I will."

"I know-"  
"Seventeen is just a number; it's still about what we want to do; nothing else matters."

Rose nodded.

"Just because I'm seventeen doesn't mean we have to-"  
Rose, purely to shut him up, kissed him again.

And then the door opened, and Al and Maddie stood in the doorway.

"Oh Merlin!" Al exclaimed, covering his eyes with the hand that wasn't around Maddie's waist while she just giggled.

"Oh shush, Al. We're practically all adults now-"  
"No. No, you're not! And I hope you remember that." He told Scorpius, a smile slightly playing on his lips. Maybe it was because he liked the power he'd managed to create, or maybe just because he found the situation funny.

Rose crossed her arms, and turned to look at Al. "I think we should have system with the door." she suggested, realising a simple way to exact revenge on her cousin. "So when me and Scorp are in here you don't walk in on-"  
"No! There will be no system, or walking, or... anything!" Al replied, frustratedly, before storming back down the stairs. Maddie smiled at Rose knowingly before leaving.

Rose turned to Scorpius and saw him looking straight back at her, his grey eyes piercing her soul in the way only he could.

"I love you." he told her.

"I'm willing to bet I love you more."


	47. Before You Go

Goood evening all. :D  
I've had such an amazing day so I'm treating you to an update... ok, that's a lie. I owe you an update… Tadaa!

So, as always thankyou to all my lovely reviewers/alerters/favouriters etc. 7 more reviews to 800! 7! You can do it kiddos! As always; thanks to anonymous reviewers: _Dani, volant au-dessus_ and _rita_.

Enjoy, guys. I know this chapter isn't too good; it's a bit of a filler before the Easter holidays start! Eeeeeep! :D

However, I have three questions for all you lovely reviewers which you've made me think of:  
1) Al and Maddie: do you want them to stay together or break up (my friend who checks all my chapters wants them to break up, and she got me thinking)  
2) James and Louisa: do you want them back together or not?  
3) Jake and Lily: together or apart?

_**Disclaimer: **__(8) Harry Potter isn't mine doo-dah doo-dah.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty Seven- Before You Go)**

Al watched as Scorpius packed his trunk up, looking down at his own bed which was strewn with clothes.

"Remind me why I'm bothering to go home?" he asked his friend.

Scorpius, still packing carefully, replied "Number one; you haven't been home for ages and you miss your parents, number two; Maddie's going back to hers anyway, so you have nothing to stay here for and number three; you staying here would mean that you're leaving me alone with your family, and you're just not mean enough to do that to me."

Al sighed, turning over on his bed and groaning. "Eugh, but I have to pack!"

"Not really." Scorpius shrugged. "You can just magic it away."  
"Then why are you packing?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Because... I don't know, I just like to pack I guess."  
Al stood up, reached for his wand and said a spell so his belongings flew into his trunk easily and the buckles snapped shut . "You're weird." He told his friend, before putting his wand back into his jeans pocket. "Damn, I love being seventeen."

Scorpius looked down his neat piles, then nodded to himself. "Screw it." He sighed, before flicking his wand silently and watching his clothes fly into his trunk.

"Well done Scorpius, glad you've seen the light."  
Scorpius laughed, and sat on his bed.  
"Now what?"  
"Now we go downstairs, eat breakfast, say goodbye and get on the train."  
"And then I meet Rose's parents."  
"Yep, then you meet Uncle Ron." Al replied, smiling a little.

He'd fully gotten his head around it now; Scorpius was Rose's boyfriend and Al wanted it to stay that way. He liked the fact they were so serious that they were meeting parents, even if it did mean Rose ended up going to his best friend's house before he did. He wasn't too sure he minded too much; he didn't really ever want to see Malfoy Manor, and was surprised that Rose did. But then again, he told himself, if they were to get married...

"Ew." He whined, shutting his eyes.

"What?"  
" I just thought about you marrying my cousin."

Scorpius laughed nervously. "I wouldn't hold your breath; that's not happening any time soon."  
Al tilted his head. "But you're saying it is going to happen someday?"

"Believe it or not, I love your cousin. Can't you see yourself marrying Maddie?"

Al thought about this for a minute, closing his eyes and trying to picture it, but he couldn't. And it wasn't because he couldn't see his future having Maddie in it (he could see that all too clearly); he just couldn't see himself marrying, ever.

"I'm only seventeen. Marriage isn't exactly on my mind." He told Scorpius, who was now leaning forward in conversation.

Scorpius and Al used to always be like this; they would sit up for hours and talk. They talked about stupid, useless things most of the time, but they had talked about proper things too. Like after Al found out about Malfoy Manor; almost every evening for a month after was spent with them discussing each of their parent's take on the war. Or when Scorpius' Granddad had died, and they had stayed up all night morbidly discussing death and pain, and whether they thought that they would die happy or sad. He remembered that Scorpius had said that he would die with his life _"unfulfilled"_ because he would have _"missed so many opportunities to tell people how I feel."_ Somehow, Al didn't know how, but he had never clicked that this was about his own cousin. This had also happened the night when they had discussed their hopes for the future; ideal jobs and whether they wanted to marry and have children, and Scorpius had said that he_ "wouldn't be able to marry who he really wanted, because there were too many obstacles in the way."  
_Now, Al realised, if they ever had these discussions again Scorpius wouldn't have to hide anymore; he liked the fact that his friend could now be completely honest. He did not, however, like the fact that Scorpius was now more likely to have these conversations with Rose.

Al tried to think of the last time he had sat and talked to his cousin, when he wasn't whining at her for being with Scorpius or begging her to do his essays. They used to talk a fair bit, him, Scorpius and Rose, and now it was just Scorpius and Rose; Al had been left right out of that trio. Truth be told, he kind of missed his cousin's take on everything.

"What's on your mind, then?" Scorpius asked him, and Al looked up and realised he must have looked quite deep in thought.

"Do you not feel like everything's changing?"

"Yeah, but for the better."

Al nodded, though he wasn't so sure. He thought about last year, and how different it had been. He, Scorpius and Rose were always together; there were no moments where they were apart, and there were no girls to mess up Al's head or anything... everything was simpler, even if Scorpius and Rose weren't as happy.

He stood up. "We need to get going to breakfast."  
"You're just fed up of me and want to go distract yourself with Madeline." Scorpius laughed, standing up and following Al towards the door.

"Well, yeah, that too." He replied, opening the door.

And then, before he left, he turned and mentally said goodbye to his room.

Now he thought about it, he felt as though this was more of his room than his room at home. He had more memories in here; the night he'd burnt his books at the end of fifth year, or the time he'd accidentally _accio_-ed his broomstick through the window while practicing. The nights he and Scorpius had stayed up talking all night and the day he'd found out about Rose and Scorpius. The times he'd spent locked away in here with Maddie while Rose and Scorpius were studying in the past few weeks since the rules were lifted... He'd _lived_ more in this room than he had back at home.

Regardless, he headed down the stairs, through the empty common room and towards the Great Hall.

"Reckon we're late?" he asked Scorpius as they sped through the corridors. It had been weird that the common room was so deserted; it never was.

"I don't know, what's the time?"

Al didn't bother to reply, because they were already at the doors of the great hall. He pushed them open to see a silent room, full of hundreds of students and Professor McGonagall mid-speech.

He looked down at the floor as the entire rooms' eyes hit him like a tidal wave.

"S-Sorry." He mumbled, walking down the central isle towards his family who, when he dared to glance up, he saw sniggering at him and Scorpius.

"Nice of you to join us, Potter." McGonagall replied sternly. The two of them sat down in the empty seats between Rose and Maddie, opposite Fred and James who had their fists in their mouths to stop them laughing too loudly. "As I was saying..." McGonagall continued what Al could guarantee was a boring speech, and he nudged Maddie in the ribs.

"What?" She whispered.

"Morning." He whispered back, placing a smile on her face. "I'm going to miss not seeing you every morn-"

He stopped talking when he was hit with a fork.

"What?" he asked, turning towards Rose who was sure to have been his attacker.

"Shut up, and turn around."  
"'_Shut up and turn around._'" Al mimicked, earning another stab in the arm, thankfully with the slightly less pointy end.

"...And, therefore, I hope you all enjoy what is sure to be a welcome two week break, and come back revived and prepared for another school term. Enjoy your food." The headmistress nodded, and the plates in front of everyone filled with food.

As the rest of the school broke out into noise, James and Fred allowed themselves to laugh.

"Oh, I am going to miss you entertaining me for two weeks, Al; you never fail to disappoint." Fred laughed.

"Shut up." Al replied, reaching for the bacon.

"Never. I'm going to tell everyone, grandchildren included, about the time you strolled into the last breakfast of term and interrupted dragon-lady's speech." James smiled.

Al considered retorting, but didn't have the energy to do so. And, he thought to himself, he was glad that James was acting normally again.

"Are you really going to miss us, James?" Lily asked from further down the bench. "It's the first time you've ever been without me and Al around-"  
"I was in Hogwarts for three years before you turned up."  
"Yeah, but you wrote to us, like, every day."

This made Fred snigger again, while James just made a small "Hmph" noise.

Lily looked quite satisfied with herself, and turned and smiled at Jake.

"Lils?" Al put his fork down, which now had quite an appetising-looking piece of bacon on the end of it, to speak to his sister. "You realise that if you and Jake aren't planning on telling Mum and Dad about you two, you won't be able to look at him like that anymore?"

"Look at him like what?" she asked before turning back to Jake again.

Al knew what he was talking about; something in her eyes changed when she looked at him. The brown of her eyes somehow seemed purer, and her happiness seemed more honest. Al recognised this look, because it also clouded Fred's eyes when he looked at Anna, or when Rose and Scorpius looked at each other. Al wondered if he looked at Maddie like that.  
"Why don't you just tell them about you two?" Dom asked as she pinned some of her hair back.  
Lily shrugged. "Because Scorpius is coming."

Al looked back confusedly, and turned to see that Scorpius himself had stopped eating and was just looking at her worriedly.

"Eh?" Louis pulled a face, and Rose crossed her arms.  
"That's the worst excuse ever." She told her cousin.

"No, seriously. It's not his fault but it's just that, well, Mum's rubbish at calming Dad down, but Uncle Ron and Hermione can do it in seconds. If your Dad's distracted by Scorpius and your Mum's busy keeping an eye on your Dad then my Dad'll just lose it about me and Jake and Mum'll just make it worse. Not deliberately but-"

"That's a load of rubbish." Hugo told her.

"It's not actually." James shrugged. "Mum is rubbish with Dad when he gets all serious or angry. Whereas your parents just understand it so... yeah, Lils, I get you."  
"But Scorpius isn't here in the second week, so you can tell Dad then-" Al suggested.  
"Nope, because then we'll have been lying for a week and they'll get even more intense."

Al nodded, because he did understand. His parents, as brilliant and perfect-for-each-other as they were, weren't good for each other in a crisis; his mother acted on impulse, while his Dad thought things through, but then his Dad would suddenly lose it a little and his mother wouldn't really know how to react. And then she'd get frustrated with him, which would just make him worse, and it was all downhill from there.

"It'll be fine. You guys'll cover for us won't you-?"  
"No, you won't." Fred demanded.

"Why?" Lily whined.  
"Because _'covering for you'_ would mean that the two of you would be alone, and I'm not encouraging that."  
"Woah, when did you turn into James?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Oi!" James exclaimed indignantly, before looking up, catching Rose's eye and mumbling "Alright, yeah, ok, fair enough." For which Roxy, Rose and Dom laughed.

"I think you're going to miss us." Lily said simply.

"I think we're not."

"Oh don't lie; it's half of us gone!" Dom told Fred.

"Well yeah, but let's face it, it's the uncool half."

"Ha ha." Rose replied sarcastically.

Then the family went silent for a few minutes, to eat their breakfast properly. This gave Al a chance to think about his sister's question; was he going to miss the rest of his family?

He couldn't miss Lily; she'd be even closer than normal. Rose and Scorpius would, weirdly, be out of shouting distance from Al for a large portion of the holiday, which felt a little alien to Al. And then he wouldn't wake up every morning to see James, Fred, Roxy, Dom, Hugo and Louis; that felt bizarre. He was so used to it, but for two weeks there would be no teasing Dom for being obsessed with guys, or trying to teach Louis about the wonders of Quidditch. For two weeks Al wouldn't be caught up in the drama of his brother, or be complimented by Fred for his skills in the Quidditch match last weekend. They wouldn't deliberately wind up Roxy by making her late for class or ask Hugo how his _'crew'_ were doing. The next two weeks would feel awfully lonely, he realised.

The family ate fast. Madeline, Scorpius, Jake and Anna were always the last to finish their meals, as the Potters or Weasleys were so speedy. Why? Because their family meals were so hectic and it took so long to get everyone sat around the table that by the time they got their food they would always be starving hungry and speed through it; it was in their genes, almost.

"You know what? I am going to miss you guys when you go home." James admitted, putting his knife and fork together on his plate as he finished eating.

"Really?" Al asked sceptically.

"Yeah; I'm losing half my Quidditch team!" he joked back, to which Al rolled his eyes. "Promise me you'll all still practice!"

They nodded in agreement, and then all looked around awkwardly as they'd finished eating.

"I guess we're off to the common room then?" Fred suggested to the older members of the family.

"Yeah, I guess." Dom replied, before standing up. "Have a really good Easter, guys." She told them, leaning over to mess up Louis' hair.

"Yeah, write to us about the Scorpius and Ron drama!" Fred joked as the rest of them rose in their seats.

"Will do." Hugo nodded.

"Good, and say hi to Mum and Dad for me, Lils." James told their sister.

"I will James. Don't miss us too much."  
"Miss you? Ha." James replied weakly, smiling down at her.

And then they all walked away, waving vaguely when they reached the door.

"Time for us to go home then?" Louis stood up, as did the other members of his family.

Apart from Al. For some reason he didn't want to leave just yet; he wanted just a few more minutes sat in the Hogwarts great hall. He'd seen so much drama in the last two terms, but he had an awful feeling that there was so much more coming up in this holiday alone. So sitting at the breakfast table, putting off going home, was like putting of the inevitable.

Maddie reached for his hand, as the rest of the family left.

"Come on."

He nodded, standing up and then his eyes met hers.

"I'm really going to miss you." he told her as the cold air hit them when they left the school minutes later.

"I should hope so." She replied.

Then he nodded, awkwardly trying to think of something to say; something that would sum up just how weird it would be to be without her.

"Can you do me a favour this Easter, Al?" he turned to her, to see that she was looking at him seriously.

"Yeah, anything."  
"Try... try and remember." She sighed.

He nodded, although he thought the request was stupid. He'd been trying to remember since it happened, but how can you possibly remember something that you don't know?

"Why can't you just tell me?" he asked.

"I... can't. You need to remember, please?"

Nodding again dumbly, he squeezed her hand in his.

He had a feeling that this entire Easter would be about as simple as this request; not simple at all.

...

"I swear to Dumbledore," Louis told his cousin. "It works every time."  
Hugo shook his head. "No way."  
"Yes way." He replied. "It's simple and so effective."  
His ginger cousin tilted his head, before nodding and saying "Alright, tell me again and I'll test it."  
"Right, so first, you catch their eye. They you smile. Then you say _'hey'_."

"And that's all it takes?" Hugo asked, before standing up and walking out of the train carriage, bumping into Lily and Jake as they came through the doors.

"Hey, where's he going?"  
"He's testing out my theory." Louis told Jake, who sat down next to Lily opposite him.

"What theory?" Lily asked.

"His girl-getting theory."

"Which is...?" Lily asked.

Louis repeated his theory, to which Lily laughed in reply.

"No way does that work! Jake, tell him it's stupid."  
Jake smiled at Louis. "Actually Lils-"  
"It doesn't work!" she demanded.

"Well, it worked with you." he told her.

For a second, Louis was slightly repulsed; his best friend was using his chat up techniques on his cousin, of course he wasn't pleased.

"It didn't! Never once did you... Wait."

Jake smiled as realisation crossed Lily's face.

"I can't believe that works!" she whined, hitting Jake's arm.

"Louis' a bit of a girl genius." His best friend told his girlfriend, making Louis smile.

This was true; if nothing else, Louis was a genius where girls were concerned. He was failing all his OWLs and had to spend his entire holidays revising if he didn't want to repeat fifth year, but if his exams were in girls he knew he would have already finished school.

He knew everything; he knew what their smiles meant, that when they said they thought they looked awful they really just wanted compliments, that they hung out in groups to protect themselves and that if they looked at you twice, you were in there.

"Well, at least he's good at something." Lily joked, to which Louis laughed.

Then the door to the compartment slammed open, and Hugo appeared in the doorway.

"I knew it wouldn't work." He whined, sitting down indignantly next to Louis.

"You must've done it wrong." Louis told him.

"No! I didn't. It doesn't work!"  
"Yes, it does." Lily and Jake said at the same time, before turning and laughing a little at each other.

"Well then, maybe it's the girl-"  
"No, it works on every girl." Louis told him. "Which one was it? I'll prove it to you."  
Hugo sighed, crossing his arms. "She's just down there, three compartments down. She's on her own and her door's open."

Louis stood, checking his reflection in the glass of the compartment door. He messed up his blonde fringe again, and then ran his fingers through the rest of his hair. Everything about this was carefully thought through; the messy hair made girls think of running their hands through it or, depending on their level of fandom, think of his relatives Al and James Potter and their legendarily messy hair. "How can it not have worked? She sounds like a right loser if she's on her own."

He opened the compartment door, and walked steadily down the train towards the open door, before leaning on the train wall opposite it subtly as if waiting for someone.

Then he turned his head, and glanced at the girl who was absentmindedly looking out into the carriage. Why she was on her own, he didn't know; she wasn't ugly or anything. She had short, brown hair, wide oval hazel eyes and freckles darting across her cheeks.

She glanced up at him for a moment, then looked away.

Then her eyes darted back up and phase one of Louis' plan had worked.

He smiled at her, and although she didn't smile back she didn't look away so he commenced with phase three and said his fail-safe word: "Hey."

It was casual enough that it didn't seem needy, or even interested at all, yet it invited conversation.

And then she raised her eyebrows at him, opened her mouth as if to speak, and slammed the compartment door shut.

"What the-?" Louis stared at the shut door, before turning back to walk to his own compartment.

Hugo's head was sticking out of the door, chuckling at him. "And you thought I did it wrong!"  
"There's something wrong with that girl!" Louis replied, pushing past him and sitting back on the bench next to the window.

"I can't believe there's actually a girl out there that Louis Weasley can't get." Jake laughed.

Louis glared. "I can get her; it's just not going to be quite as simple as normal-"  
"No. You can't get her." Hugo told him.

This was completely frustrating to Louis.

There _couldn't_ be a girl he couldn't get. There just couldn't. He'd had seventh yearsfor God's sake! It was like thinking of Uncle Harry without a scar or his other Uncles without ginger hair; simply impossible.

"Want to bet?" he challenged.

Hugo nodded. "Two galleons; you won't get her."

"Deal; I'll even bring you along with me to watch."

He stood up again, grabbing his younger cousin by the shirt and pulling him out of the door and back into the carriage corridor.

"Oh my God! That's where the compartment the Weasleys are in! Does that mean Harry Potter'll be at the station?"

The second Louis heard a few girls squealing this, he realised exactly how he could get this girl; it would be even easier than saying "Hey."  
He walked towards the compartment door, dragging Hugo behind him, then leant by the door and demanded his younger cousin "Watch and learn."

He knocked on the compartment door, and it slid open.

"Oh." The girl raised her eyebrows. "It's you two again."

It may have been Louis' imagination, but the girl seemed to have gotten hotter since she had last rejected him. Her hair hadn't been that perfect chocolaty shade before, had it? She hadn't had eyelashes that long before, he was sure.

"Hey." Louis nodded. "Right, so I'm Louis, and this is my cousin Hugo. Weasley."

He smiled; the surname was sure to have had the same affect it did on everyone. _"Oh my god, you're Bill Weasley's son! What's Harry Potter like; what's his bedroom like? Is Ron really as funny as everyone says he is? Are Hermione and Ginny really that pretty or is it all editing? Do you think you could get me their autographs?"_

That was what he expected.

That was not what he got.

He got raised eyebrows and a reply of "I know."

Louis blinked back. "You know. You know we're Weasleys?"

"Yeah."

Louis tilted his head, sure that she was slowly becoming prettier the longer she looked at him like he was stupid.

"Well then why aren't you talking to us-?"  
"I don't like you very much."

Hugo seemed to take offence to this as much as Louis did.

"You don't like us? Why not?"

She smiled, folding her arms. "That would be telling."

Hugo and Louis shared confused looks; reactions like this to their surnames were unprecedented.

"Well, what's your name?" Louis asked.

"Lucy. Lucy Brown." She looked up at them, and then laughed a little. "See, my surname doesn't mean anything to you, does it?"

"N-No." Hugo replied. "But why would it-?"  
They didn't get a reply, instead the door slid shut and Louis and Hugo were left looking more confused than they did when they attempted divination.

Feeling dejected and perplexed, Louis headed back towards their compartment, thinking about the girl that had just ruined all his theories. _Brown; _why would that mean anything?

Throwing himself back through the door, he was temporarily distracted when he saw Jake and Lily in different clothes than before. Instead of their school robes, they had changed into muggle clothes.

"Woah, did you just get changed together?" Louis asked, thoroughly disturbed and thinking that it was now his responsibility to curse his best friend.

"Don't worry; Jake closed his eyes."  
"I'm sure he did." Louis replied sarcastically, glaring at Jake a little and regretting the fact he'd invited him to stay for the Easter; he was stuck with two weeks of Lily-talk.

"So, how did it go with that girl?"

"Someone owes me two galleons!" Hugo replied, looking thoroughly more happy and less confused with this realisation.

Louis sighed, feeling annoyed.

He looked out of the window and watched as they flew through the countryside. He wondered how many other girls there were out there that he couldn't get. Not many, he imagined. That silly Lucy Brown was one in a million. Hating Weasleys; what was that all about?

He didn't have long to think about this, however, as the landscape of tumbling hills and rivers changed into that of tall buildings and motorways.

"We're almost home!" Lily pointed out excitedly.

"Yep! The holidays are starting!" Jake replied, turning and smiling down at her.

This holiday was going to be bloody annoying, Louis decided.


	48. Beginning

Hey guys! You have blown me away; 46 reviews on one chapter? 839! I can't believe it! Thankyou so so so so so so much! Including anonymous reviewers, favouriters, and alerters aswell of course. Anonymous reviewers: _UpxInxThexClouds_ (Not anonymous but I can't reply... :D) _Nadine 265, Sean, Everlyn, Scor, nicodiangeloissobadass, LucieeBabeex, Dani _and _rita._

Thankyou all for answering my questions; you've definitely made me think! Really huge Lily/Jake fans out there though- 27 votes to keep them together out of 38!

For those of you who worked it out. Guess who Lucy BROWN's mother is! Ironically she has the same initials... And didn't get married. Not surprised tbh.

Finally, sorry, but I'm going away for a week now! I will update as soon as I can when I'm back! Sorry, I feel guilty after you all reviewed so incredibly!

_**Disclaimer: **__It's sad but true, Harry Potter isn't mine. Neither, as it happens, are the lyrics to Lucky by Britney Spears, to which my friends and I wrote a parody which include the lyrics "he's so lucky, he's got a scar, but he cries cries cries in his lonely heart thinking, if there's something I want to do with my life it's make my best friend's sister my wife." :L I'm just that cool. Although, it's not as good as our TikTok parody, but I'll save that for next disclaimer...

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Forty Eight- Beginning)**

"I'll see you later!" Maddie squealed, running off the train after hugging Rose and disappearing into the crowds on Platform 9 and 3/4s.

Rose, Scorpius and Al moved a lot slower than Maddie had; they were much less excited about being home.

Rose was dreading her family's reaction to Scorpius, and Scorpius was dreading meeting the family. Al on the other hand? Rose had no idea what was wrong with him; he'd been in a weird mood all morning, hardly said a word to Maddie all train journey and grumbled about every little thing...

Rose turned to pull her trunk off the train, thinking about her pain in the ass cousin, but Scorpius took it for her.

"How nice." Al said sarcastically, before grabbing his own trunk and throwing it onto the trolley dramatically. Rose and Scorpius shared a head shake and eye roll between the two of them, before following Al who had pushed their belongings away.

"Nervous?" Scorp asked as they walked through the crowd, getting more second glances than usual.

Rose pulled the sleeves of her jumper down to cover her hands, so she wouldn't be tempted to reach for him, and nodded. "But it'll be ok." She sighed, concentrating on her feet instead of looking up at Scorp's nervous eyes.

They walked towards the far end of the platform, furthest from the mass of people, and Rose saw four people waiting for her in the far corner.

Al hadn't waved or said anything to them, apparently; he seemed not to have acknowledged his own father and mother and aunt and uncle. Whatever happened to him must've really bugged him.

Rose, unlike her cousin, decided that a vague wave in her family's direction would do, and glanced up at Scorpius hopefully one more time before finding herself in talking distance with her parents.

"Mum, Dad; hey!" she smiled, stopping close to them. She considered moving forwards to hug them, but then realised that that would mean leaving Scorpius behind, and she couldn't leave him with all eight eyes just on him.

"You look better than you did when we last saw you!" Her mother replied, smiling welcomingly.

"How are you?" Her Uncle Harry asked. "I imagine it hurts to fall down those stairs."  
"It takes skill." Al said mockingly from her side, which Rose ignored.

"I'm fine, thank you Uncle Harry."  
Her Uncle nodded, then his wife tilted her head. "Why's Al so moody?"  
"I am here you know!" he moaned, sitting on the pile of trunks on the trolley.

"Clearly." Her father spoke, but was still eying Scorpius.

"I'll tell you when I find out." Rose told her Aunt, earning a slight laugh.

Then they went quiet, and the adults' eyes returned to resting on Scorpius.

"Oh, yeah, er, this is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorp, this is my Mum, my Dad and Ginny and Harry Potter."

After years of ministry balls and official memorial services, Rose knew how to introduce people, and once she'd finished speaking she turned to Scorpius.

"Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley." He stepped forward and shook her parents' hands; Rose found it really quite surreal to see them in conversation for a moment.

"Oh please, call me Hermione." Her mother said kindly, before looking up at Rose's father expectantly.

"Er, yeah call me, er-"  
"Ron. Call him Ron." Aunt Ginny concluded, while Rose looked at her father incredulously.

She turned her head a little to see her Uncle Harry smiling at her.

Out of all of her Aunts and Uncles, she felt like Harry understood her most, but then again Harry had this way of making everyone feel understood. He smiled at her, as if to say it would all be okay, and then he turned to Scorp.

"Scorpius, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." Harry smiled, and Scorpius turned and shook his head.

"No, Mr Potter, it's an honour to meet you, and your wife, of course."  
Aunt Ginny smiled at Rose in the same way Harry just had; both her Aunt and Uncle, seemingly as outsiders, seemed to feel sympathy for her.

"And where's Madeline? I was hoping to meet her!" Aunt Ginny exclaimed, turning to her son who now looked thoroughly bored.

Rose, thankful of the change of subject and slight lowering in awkward levels, turned to Scorpius for a second and smiled at him. He looked just as nervous as he had before until he looked down at her and bit his lip a little.

"Gone." Al said simply.

"Well that's a shame." Harry replied. "Where's Lily?"  
"Probably with Jake." Al replied tiredly.

Rose blinked at him, before seeing the parents confused faces and adding "And Louis. Jake and Louis. And Hugo. And Lily. They'll all be together." She glared at Al, and he shrugged back.

Then silence fell over them again.

Her father was still looking at Scorpius, with a look on his face that Rose couldn't quite read. Her mother was smiling at him, while Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry were looking at their son warily, and glancing at each other knowingly every moment or so.

Scorpius, on Rose's side, was shuffling on his feet, and Al was yawning over exaggeratedly.

"Dad!" Rose turned to see Lily running towards them, her arms outstretched. She really was a little girl sometimes, Rose thought to herself. Jake, Louis and Hugo were following, Hugo sitting on the trolley that Louis was pushing and laughing about something or other.

Lily ran into her father's arms, before transferring herself to her mother.

"It's nice to know we've been missed by someone!" Uncle Harry joked, smiling down at Lily.

Rose heard who she thought was Al grumble from her side, but turned to see Louis leaning on his own trolley with a face similar to Al's.

"Wow, you two are clearly going to be fun this holiday." Ginny said, glancing between the two of them.

"Yeah, Louis don't you have someone to _introduce._" Lily said, unsubtly tilting her head towards Jake who was now stood next to Scorpius. It was as if the two newcomers to the family had gravitated towards each other.

"He's Jake Thomas!" Louis whined, making the kids laugh at him a little.

The parents, however, were glancing at each other again.

"Thomas?" Ron repeated, looking at Jake.

Rose was confused, but also a little hopeful. She knew it was wrong, but part of her hoped for a moment that Jake had secretly been related to another death eater far worse than the Malfoys and that would take the heat of Scorpius for a bit.

"Your Dean's son?" Ginny asked, as her husband looked Jake up and down.

"Yeah. Dad said he knew you." Jake smiled, as if he knew whatever was going on. Rose cursed to herself; he wasn't secretly a death eater's son after all.

"Oh. Right, well hi anyway."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr Potter."

They nodded at each other a little, as if not speaking about something. This frustrated Rose; she didn't like not knowing things. Thankfully, she wasn't the only one of her family who had this trait.

"Why does it matter who his father is?" Al moaned, leaning his head back boredly.

Rose's parents turned and smiled at each other a little, before looking at Al's mother meaningfully.

"Dean Thomas is your mother's ex-boyfriend." Harry told his son.

The kids all looked at each other, slightly shocked expressions on their faces; it was bizarre to imagine their parents with anyone but each other. None of their faces were as priceless as Lily's who was looking at Jake even more nervously now, glaring a little yet somehow looking happy at the same time.

Al, however, found this information very interesting, and jumped up.

"Really? So, if Mum had married Dean and not Dad then Lily, Jake and I would all be brother and sister! Fascinating!" He smiled at Lily sarcastically as she turned her glares to him.

"Al, I don't think you quite understand how genes work..." Rose's mother began, before Al, Hugo and Louis groaned at the same time.

"Shall we head to Mum's then?" Rose's father interrupted, raising his eyebrows at the children before beginning to walk.

"Ok!" Hugo smiled, jumping onto the front of the trolley Louis was pushing.

"Hugo, walk for yourself!" Rose commanded at her brother as they began to walk.

"Nope, I won a bet-"

"Sitting on the trolley wasn't part of it!" Louis replied, pushing the trolley with a fair bit of effort.

"Yeah, but you didn't have the two galleons so-"  
"You bet two galleons!" Ron interrupted. "I hope it was a sure bet."

"It was-"  
"And yet, you lost." Jake laughed. He was now walking alongside Louis, with Lily on the other side of Jake. It looked terribly awkward from behind them; it was weird to see Jake walking without Lily under his arm. However, Rose realised that she and Scorpius looked similar; they were now stood on either side of Al, glancing across him at each other every few steps.

"What did you bet on, anyway?" Harry asked.  
"He bet he would get this girl-"  
"But he didn't." Lily laughed.

"Look, she was biased, wasn't she? Not liking Weasleys; it's weird!" Louis whined.  
"Wait, she actually said she didn't like our family? What was her name?" Rose asked.

"I dunno, I forgot-" Hugo began.

"Brown. Lucy Brown." Louis told them.  
"Brown?"

Again, looks crossed between the parents.

"Oh god. Her Dad didn't used to go out with Uncle Ginny too did he?" Hugo laughed.

"Not quite." Their mother said. "Her mother used to go out with your father."  
"No way!" Louis laughed.

"Yeah, I'm surprised she ever managed to trick someone into having a child with her." Her father joked, earning stern glances from Hermione.

Regardless, Rose laughed with the rest of them, but then they fell silent again. Why? Because they were walking through crowds of people, and were now surrounded by distracting whispers or camera flashes.

"Do you get this every time you go anywhere?" Jake asked Louis quite loudly as they walked.

"Yep." Louis replied.

"I thought it was bad at Hogwarts." Jake replied quietly.

"It's not usually this bad, actually, or if it is I've forgotten."

As Lily said this, Rose found herself agreeing. They normally got weird looks or asked for autographs or heard cheers for The Golden Trio but they weren't normally surrounded by this many whispers.

"It's gotten a bit more extreme since that article." Aunt Ginny said quietly as they walked.

The crowd was practically parting in front of them, as if they were a force to be reckoned with.

"Yeah, I doubt Scorpius being here makes it any better." Al mumbled quietly, for which Rose reached out and smacked him on the leg.

But this was true; Scorpius being here did make everything different.

And this was just the beginning.

...

Roxy looked around the common room, which was empty apart from the four of them sat on the sofas.

"Is it just me, or does anyone else think it's weird without the younger ones around?"

"I think it's weird without _anyone_ around." Roxy sighed, agreeing with her brother.

"Yeah, no one's around to eavesdrop on our conversations any more-"  
"It feels really different, don't you think?" Dom asked.

"Yeah, we could say anything!" Fred laughed, and stood up on the table to demonstrate this idea. "I hate my ginger hair!" he yelled loudly, before sitting down as the rest of them laughed at him.

"Seriously though... there's nobody."  
This was true. At lunch today there had only been around twenty Gryffindors in total, and four of them were Weasleys or Potters.

Then an idea came swimming into Roxy's mind, when she realised that two people weren't part of that twenty.

They must have gone home; her old dorm was empty.

"Where did you say Anna was?" Fred asked, knocking Roxy out of her own thoughts.

"Er, she went to bed."  
"Bed? It's 3 in the afternoon!"  
"I know." Dom shrugged. "She didn't look very well to be honest."  
Fred nodded, and began to pick at the side of the sofa he was sitting at.

"James?" Roxy said quietly, unsure why his name slipped out of her mouth. She'd been thinking of who to take for back up to her old dorm, and somehow she'd just said his name. "Can you help me out this afternoon?"  
"Yeah sure, Rox. What do you need?" he asked.

"I... I want to go and get the last of my stuff from the head's dorms, and I don't think anyone'll be in there so-"

"I'll come with you." Dom offered, looking at James warily.

His smile seemed to have faltered, and he was looking out into the distance a little.

"No, I'll come, Rox." James nodded, looking a little dazed as if he'd just arrived back from apparating far away.

He seemed to understand why Roxy wanted it to be him; she wanted him by her side because he'd understand what she was feeling better than anyone else could.

They hadn't talked about it with each other; the two most affected people had deliberately avoided bringing it up when they were together. Maybe because Roxy had a hunch that James, like her, could only think about Louisa when he was alone. That when he wasn't faking laughter or making jokes he could only wonder what they'd done, and Roxy thought that if the two of them discussed it together they would just pull each other so far down that they would never get back up.

"Do you want to go now?" James asked, standing.

Roxy nodded nervously, and stood up next to him. And then they both smiled at each other a little awkwardly and headed out of the common room, telling Fred and Dom that they'd "Be back soon."

On the walk there, Roxy crossed her fingers. She knew she couldn't turn around now she'd dragged James along, and just hoped and prayed all walk that they wouldn't be there; that she was right and that they had gone home.

It had been so long since she'd been in the dorm that she didn't even know the password. She sighed when she reached the portrait, and reached deep into her pocket and pulled out her head girls' badge.

She used to love that badge. It used to be the most important thing to her; she would wear it every single day and polish it so it sparkled and... And now she could barely look at it. Because when before it had meant friendship and achievement, it now just reminded her of the other girl who wore the same sparkly badge every day.

The knight in the portrait nodded when he saw her holding up the badge, and faded away to reveal the entrance hole. Roxy stuffed it back into her pocket and glanced at James hopefully.

She could tell he was hoping the same thing; he didn't want to see them. Roxy wondered if he wanted to see them even less than she did. Roxy had a hunch that this whole thing had hurt him more than it had hurt her because he had _loved _Louisa. And Roxy was beginning to wonder if she had ever really loved Craig, or just thought she did; she wasn't upset about losing him, she was just upset about him betraying her. And James didn't seem bothered about the betrayal, just about the heartbreak Louisa had caused.

Roxy decided to climb through first, subconsciously wanting to protect James if they were in there. He followed her though, as if he wanted to protect her just as much. And before she climbed out at the other end Roxy hoped and prayed one final time, though she didn't really know why. Hoping and praying now wouldn't just make them disappear if they were in there. There wasn't anything they could do now; no going back.

She climbed through and breathed a sigh of relief; there was no one sat on the plump sofas and the fire wasn't burning. She turned and saw that James looked just as relieved.

"Right." He smiled. "Want to go get your stuff then? I'll just stand here and wait."

Roxy nodded, and began to walk towards her old room.

Then something caught her eye in the far corner. A diamond was sparkling, barely visibly beneath the large pile of belongings.

Her belongings.

"Looks like I don't have to." Roxy said, shaking her head disbelievingly and walking towards her things.

It could have easily just been thrown there, the same way you throw away rubbish.

"Is that- is that your stuff?" James asked, walking next to her. His eyes were wide, and he was shaking her head similarly to her.

"Yeah. All of the stuff I left in my room." She nodded, lifting up her jumpers to see that all her jewellery had seemingly been thrown out of the drawer it used to be in and just allowed to fall apart on the carpet. The diamond earrings Craig had bought her sparkled up at her almost gloatingly, while the bracelet her parents had bought her tangled with her hair bands worthlessly.

"I can't believe they would..." his voice trailed away.

"Yeah? Well there's a lot of things I didn't believe they'd do." Roxy sighed.

She felt angry. Actually, physically angry.

It was just so disrespectful; everything they seemed to have done was disrespectful. First they cheated on her, then they pretty much made her lose the position she'd worked for since first year and now they'd thrown her stuff on the floor as if it was a bloody bonfire.

And then she heard laughing echoing from behind them. Laughter.

They turned at the same time, and Roxy found herself crossing her arms. She turned her head a little to see that James was shaking; she didn't know if this had only started when he'd heard her voice or if he'd done it since they'd climbed in here. Either way, his hand was almost trembling as he placed it in his pocket with his wand in it.

"Those first years really think they know everything, don't they?" Craig's voice echoed, and became clearer as they got closer. Roxy found herself wondering if she could somehow get out of here before they eventually got here, but realised she didn't really want to; she wanted to ask why the hell her stuff was on the floor.

"Yeah, they do" Louisa's small reply came, contrastingly quiet to Craig's and not echoing as ominously as his did.

"_'Just because you're head boy doesn't mean you can tell me what to do!'_ Actually that's exactly what... it..."

Craig came into view first, hopping out of the hole and turning to see them both. Louisa followed, looking at Craig confusedly until she also glanced up.

"Oh." She said quietly, looking straight back down at her feet. If she was smiling before, it had completely disappeared within milliseconds.

Roxy couldn't stand the silence. She mentally told herself that she had no choice but to break it; James wouldn't and Louisa and Craig seemed too shocked. "Why is my stuff on the floor?" she asked, surprisingly calmly.

"Er, w-we..." Craig began to reply, but him simply opening her mouth made Roxy angrier.

"Just decide to throw it all out, did you?"

"No, Rox it wasn't like that-"  
"Well then what was it like?" Roxy asked, the mention of her nickname just making her worse.

"We... We knew you'd come back to get it sometime so we wanted to make it easier for you-"  
"So you just threw it all on the floor." Roxy laughed. That shrill, angry, sarcastic laugh that her Aunt Hermione had perfected. "Yeah, having all my stuff broken really does make it easier!"

"We didn't think you'd ever come, really. It's been months and you haven't so-"  
"Yeah, because I can't look at you!" Roxy yelled. She was unsure where it had come from, unsure how she'd gotten to the point of screaming at Craig when half an hour ago she'd been sat in a peaceful common room. Weirdly, though, she'd rather be here. "But if I want to, I am allowed to have my stuff here! I'm even allowed to sleep over here if I want to! You have no right to throw out my stuff when I'm head girl too-"

"I know, Roxy. We're sorry, we didn't really think..." Louisa was quiet, biting her lip and looking up at James only for a second.

"You're sorry?" Roxy echoed. "For what? Throwing all my stuff on the floor or sleeping with my boyfriend?"

Louisa looked like she'd been slapped. Roxy liked the fact she'd done that without having to actually slap her; it was a little victory.

"Rox, we're both sorry for-"  
"Just to me? You're not sorry to James too?"  
"No of course we are!" Louisa cried. Tears had formed in her eyes, and she was staring up in James' direction and shaking her head. "I am so sorry. If I could go back and change it then-"  
"Why?" James interrupted her loudly. Roxy turned her head and looked at him, and he was staring straight back at Louisa steadily; no longer shaking; just staring.

"Wh-why what?"

"Why did you do it?" James asked. "I've asked myself so many times, maybe you can enlighten me."

"I-I don't know." Louisa sighed. It was almost as if it was just the two them in conversation; Roxy and Craig were nothing to do with it anymore. "I was upset about us breaking up, and then Craig came back and he was really angry about the whole thing in the corridor, and I was trying to calm him down, and we got to talking-"  
"What, a _'slag off the Potters and Weasleys'_ session?"

"No! No nothing like that." Craig shook his head.

"Then what did you say?" Roxy demanded.

"What did we say?"  
"Yeah. It can't've just been _'it'll be ok Craig, let's have sex'_ can it?"

"I...we... We were saying how perfect you all were. How I.." Louisa held back a sob and continued. "How I didn't think I was good enough for you, James. How I felt completely inadequate stood next to Rox and how I just... How I felt like nothing-"

"I made you feel like nothing?" James shook his head.

"No! No you made me feel so special but I still-"  
"Not special enough." James sighed.

And then Louisa started crying properly; she trembled and tears rolled down her face out of her blue eyes.

"James, what happened... it wasn't your fault. Louisa and I, we just... we were just stupid that night."

"Stupid?" Roxy asked. Somehow, something about Louisa's tears and James' broken expression and Craig's simple explanations had flicked some sort of switch inside her. "Stupid? Do you think that makes it ok?"  
"No! It's not okay, Roxy! Of course it's not!" Roxy blinked back, shocked that Craig was actually shouting back at her, almost louder than her. "I've worked that out from Louisa crying every night or the bloody evils from your family! Or the fact that your bed in that room has been empty for months now, or that McGonagall keeps asking where you are-"  
"Yeah, and it's your fault! You cheated on me Craig, so don't act like the victim! You did this! You crushed James, you broke my heart and my family have every right to glare at you after everything you put us through-!"

"I know! Roxy this is my fault. Mine. I kissed Louisa first and-"

"Is that true?" James stuttered. His eyes still hadn't torn from Louisa's.

She nodded. "I-I..." she breathed in deeply, as if to make sure she didn't break out into sobs mid-sentence again. "I convinced myself it was you kissing me because I missed you so much, and I just didn't think and I... I'm so sorry, James. You'll never know how sorry."

James sighed, his hands flying to his head and covering his eyes as he did so. Roxy knew this was to stop himself crying.

He looked so broken. So unnecessarily broken; like her belongings on the floor. She looked at him and she somehow wasn't angry. She wasn't angry, she wasn't sad, and she hardly felt involved anymore; she just felt sorry for James... and Louisa, weirdly, who had now dissolved into sobs again.

"We can't do this anymore." Roxy sighed, turned and looked at her belongings. "You can throw it all out, I don't care."

And that was the truth. She didn't care; not like James and Louisa did. She cared out of principle, not out of loss or love or longing.

James nodded, following her dumbly as they walked towards the exit. Louisa fled to her room, while Craig just stood to the side and watched them both leave.

And when they were outside, the portrait having returned and closed them off from everything that just happened, Roxy looked up at her cousin.

"James, I'm so sorry. I didn't think they'd be in or that we'd..."

He shook his head, and smiled down at her weakly. "It's alright, Roxy, it helped. I know the answers to questions I didn't dare to ask."

Roxy nodded hopefully as he began to walk back towards the common room and sighed.

James was right; as bad as it had felt, she didn't think there was anything she didn't know anymore.

There wasn't anything she wanted to know. She just wanted to put it all behind her, and move on. Right now was when the past ended and her future began.


	49. Watching Time Fly

Hey guys, sorry it's been so long; I came home all ready to update to realise I hadn't actually written this chapter, but I had written the one after. God, I'm going insane.  
But anyways, it's written now so I hope you like it.

Just wanted to also say how incredible you guys are; 53 reviews on one chapter is just amazing! It took me an hour and a half to reply to them all! But it was totally worth it, and I hope I didn't miss any of you out!  
And, as always, thanks to all you favouriters and alerters and new readers! It means a lot, so thank you!  
Finally anonymous reviewers: _ _(You have no name) _(I'm updating... now. :D), _Nadine265_ (Your welcome), _ladeeda_ (Yes, Roxy and Craig are over for good), _Dani _(There is hope yet for Louisa and James), _Sean _(Sorry for the wait!), _zillionz _(Glad you liked it) and _rita _(Oh no, Louisa's better than Craig, at least!) Thankyou all so much.

So, hope you like this chapter. It's one of the longest I've ever written, and even that's when it's only one character. It was going to be two (Dom and... someone different :D) but it was just ridiculously long so I've spilt it into two! :D Hope you like it. Next chapter in days, not weeks, this time.

_**Disclaimer: **__Wake up in the morning feeling like Ron Weasley (Tik Tok parody :S), however Ron Weasley, or in fact the entire Harry Potter world is not mine.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_**  
(Chapter Forty Nine- Watching Time Fly)**

Dom stared out of the window of the common room, watching the sun creep out from behind the clouds.

Everyone seemed to think she always sat in this seat in _'Weasley Corner'_ because it was the only comfortable seat left. Even in first year, James and Fred took the sofa, Roxy perched on the fireplace and Dom was sat on the armchair between the two. The truth was, however, that she had chosen this seat even before the boys had taken possession of the comfy sofa. She chose it because it was the only seat in the corner with a direct view of the window. From her seat, she could see the sky, she could see the sun beating down in the summer, and could watch the rain drip down the window pane on nights where she was feeling emotional. She'd seen the best storms England had to offer from this seat; when the clouds had crackled and rumbled and everyone had ran to the windows to watch while Dom had just stayed watching from her seat and pretended not to be bothered. She'd even seen James and Fred flying past the windows years ago, before James had found the marauders map and their chosen hiding place was the forbidden forest.

Dom loved the sky, and the possibilities it showed her. Therefore, Dom loved her seat in the common room.

"Oi, you listening?" Fred asked, leaning over and waving his hand in front of her face. She blinked her eyes away from the sun and turned her head in his direction. "God, we're the only two people in here, and you're not even talking." He joked.

"No, I am listening. Honestly-"  
"Really, what did I just say?" he asked, tilting his head.

Dom bit her lip, then pulled a face. "Ok, I wasn't listening."  
"I knew it. What were you doing; thinking of a guy?"

Dom laughed a little, secretly resenting his words. They always assumed it was boys that she was thinking of. Always. And it never was, really. She tended to be thinking of how beautifully fascinating the sky was, or how lucky she was to have everything she had. In fact, she'd only ever spent time sitting in this seat and thinking of guys last year. And even then it was only one guy, and she wasn't really thinking of him... she was dreaming of him.

Regardless, she mumbled "Yeah, that's right." and smiled fakely. Thinking it through, she wasn't sure when she'd last smiled genuinely.

"I was asking if you knew what was wrong with Anna?"  
Dom uncrossed her legs and shrugged. "Nope, I don't know. I think she's just feeling ill today; she'll be fine tomorrow."

Fred nodded, but didn't look as if he believed her.

Dom was sure that, like her, some of Fred's uncaring, laid back and jokey attitude was an act. Every now and again he would show it; when Anna was upset or on memorial day. And Dom thought that, if this theory was true, Fred believing her was also just an act.

"Why, do you not think she's alright or-?"

Fred shook his head. "It's just that she's been quiet for a while now. It's like... it's like she's avoiding me, or something."

"Give her time." Dom advised. "She'll probably be fine, and she'll talk to you about it when she wants to."

He nodded, then glanced up at the clock. "James and Roxy have been gone a long time." He changed the subject obviously.

"Yeah, you're right." She replied, turning and looking at the time herself.

"Reckon they're ok?"

She shrugged. "I don't know; I haven't seen Louisa and Craig around though, I think they've gone home. Roxy probably just has a lot of stuff."  
"That sounds like my sister." He joked. "I swear; she doesn't need half the stuff she has."

"Probably not." Dom laughed.

They went silent; Dom knew Fred would still be thinking of Anna so she didn't press for conversation. Instead she sat, and twisted her hair between her fingers, looking out of the window.

She did this until the portrait hole swung open, and James and Roxy climbed through.

First, Dom thought they both looked a little worse than they had when they left; James eyes were uncharacteristically dark and Roxy's hair looked a little more wild than normal. And then she realised that Roxy didn't have any of her belongings, and she realised what must of happened.

"Guess who we bumped into!" James joked, sitting down on his seat.

"Not-"  
"Yeah." James replied.

For two people who had just ran into their exes, James and Roxy looked surprisingly calm. Roxy even looked happy.

"What happened?" Fred asked.

And then Roxy and James filled the two of them in on the events in the Head's dorms. But if someone asked Dom later what they'd said, she wouldn't know. She knew it was awful, but she wasn't really listening. She could guess, practically; they'd shouted at each other, it had been dramatic and heartbreaking, but now they both felt it was good that it had happened.

They were getting predictable. Ridiculously predictable.

She was sure they didn't used to be this dramatic. She was sure they used to have more problems than their relationships, but she was looking back and she couldn't remember. She couldn't remember what they used to sit and waste their nights talking about before other people entered their lives; she couldn't really remember how it used to be.

"Do you think I did the right thing?" Roxy's voice pierced Dom's thoughts, and Dom looked down to see her cousin looking at her expectantly.

"Definitely." Dom answered, a little unsure as to what she was replying to.

Roxy smiled. "Yeah, I think so too."

Dom nodded, then returned to her original thoughts. She had no idea what they used to talk about; she had no idea what they used to be like...  
"What you thinking?" Roxy asked, and Dom looked down to see that, once again, Roxy was looking up at her.

Dom considered lying, and saying it was just some random guy, but she changed her mind because she wanted to see if they felt everything had changed as much as she did. "Just wondering what we used to be like."  
"What do you mean?" James asked.

"I mean, before. Before our brothers and sisters arrived and before we held parties and..." she glanced at the other three to see them all looking back confusedly. "Never mind, it's stupid." She sighed.

"No." James shook his head. "No, you're right. When did everything get this complicated?"

"Some time in the last seven years." Roxy replied.

Dominique looked between them all, and realised that their earlier faces weren't confused; they were thinking, just as she had been earlier, she just didn't recognise it because it was so rare for Fred to actually think.

"Seven years? Woah." Fred's eyebrows furrowed as if he was counting the years in his head.

"I suddenly feel really old." James sighed.

"I suddenly have an urge to jump in the lake, just to prove I can." Fred laughed. "Like in-"  
"Third year." Roxy completed his sentence, before all four of them burst into laughter.

"That has to be one of the stupidest things we've ever done-"  
"It was such a good night, though." Fred laughed.

Dom nodded in agreement, still laughing a little. That night had been good. It had just been the four of them, as Al and Rose were still in second year and going to bed ridiculously early. It was long before Dom and Roxy had become proper friends with Louisa and Anna, so it had just been them alone in their corner. Just the four of them and some fire whiskey Fred had nicked from his Dad's cupboard.

"Our first ever drinks." Dom smiled.

"We were far too young to drink." Roxy laughed. She'd said almost exactly the same thing that night, but had quickly changed her mind.

"Yeah, all four of us still fitted under the invisibility cloak!"

"I'd only gotten it that summer, as well." James joked. "And my Dad's orders were '_don't use it to sneak out_'. First night I use it we sneak into the black lake and swim-"  
"And I get felt up by the giant squid." Fred told the three of them, prompting them to laugh again.

And then Dom realised; after earlier wondering when she'd last genuinely smiled she realised she was doing it now. She was actually happy. It was a shame that she was only happy because she was remembering.

"Oh, not this again." James groaned.  
"It happened!" Fred replied, crossing his arms.  
"It didn't. Just like you didn't once find another secret passage way to Hogsmeade-"

"I did! It took me to the Three Broomsticks' bathroom-"  
"Then why can't you find it again?" James smirked, while Roxy and Dom just raised their eyebrows at each other a little; Fred and James used to have this debate all the time.

"Well I-"  
"And why isn't it on the map?"  
"Because I was the first person to find it-!"  
"Impossible. There's no way that the marauders could miss a secret passage way, or that your Dad could also not find it-"  
"I swear to Merlin it was-"  
"Yeah, ok, whatever." James laughed; it was clear to the girls that he was just deliberately winding up Fred.

It had worked. Fred folded his arms, and huffed a little, before mumbling "I was still the first to have sex," as a final attempt to win the argument.

James took the bait, and turned to face his cousin.

"I was the first to drink!"  
"By minutes." Roxy interjected.

"Exactly." Fred smiled.

"Fine, but I was the first to get a girlfriend-"  
"I was the first to get detention-"  
"I was the first to kiss a girl-"

"But I've kissed more girls than you-"  
Roxy and Dom watched the two of them argue like a married couple wordlessly; they used to do this all the time, Dom had almost missed it. It was entertaining if nothing else.

"No you haven't!"

"Yeah, I have."

"Not."

"Have."

"Not."  
"Have."  
The two of them glared at each other, a smile playing on both of their faces.

"I've missed this." Fred laughed.

"Me too, actually. I always beat you."  
"No you don't! I just got the last word."

"Yeah..."James leant back, before smiling evilly. He then began to cough fakely. "Ahem, Quidditch Captain."

"I did not want that... Ok, yeah fine. Fine, you win." Fred replied, scowling a little.

"Seriously though, when did it stop being simple like this?" James asked, looking back around the common room.

"I'm inclined to blame Dom."

"What?" Dom asked, sitting up. "Why me?"  
"You were the first of all of us to date. Therefore, you brought the outsiders in." Fred replied.

"That's not fair; things were still really simple for ages after that-"  
"Then I blame the younger kids." Fred nodded. "Things were really easy before they all started dating and arguing and-"  
"That's true." James nodded.

Dom looked back out of the window and sighed to herself. She considered voicing the thought running round her head, but Roxy beat her to it.

"I miss it being simple. I miss it just being us four."

They all nodded, the laughing and joking atmosphere seemed to be freezing away; they now all looked distant and trapped in memories and thoughts.

It dawned on Dom at that moment, and she thought it hit the rest of them at the same time; they were never going to get that simplicity back. There was no way to un-complicate it all, because in unravelling one situation they would just tangle up another.

It was only going to get worse in the future. The future that, next year, wouldn't even have the backdrop of Hogwarts to make it easier.

And she wondered if she would rather sit here, and live completely in her memories forever, instead of ever moving into the complex unknown.

Then she realised she didn't have that choice.


	50. What We Wish For

Good evening to all you lovely readers. :D Hope you're all ok.

Thankyou, as always, for favouriting, reviewing, alerting etc. Anonymous alerters: _, _Black Veil _(Thankyou for your advice), _a true dreamer_ and _Dani. _I hope I replied to all the rest of you!  
Also, I wanted to say thank you to any of you who have put me on your favourite authors or on your author alert list. It means so much to me, and if one more person does it I'm up to 20! :D So, yeah, any of you fancy helping me there? *hint hint* tehe.

Anyway, sorry it took me a while to post this chapter; Summer is a little insane! I hope you all like this chapter. It's a bit different to the others, but I hope you like it for that! :D

Ps. You all have some brill theories as to why Anna's ill; but are they correct… hmm…?

_**Disclaimer: **__You're Harry-freaking-Potter (AVPS ftw), but I don't own you or your universe.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_  
**(Chapter Fifty- What We Wish For)**

Molly Weasley's kitchen used to be the only room in her house that wasn't chaotic. Unlike her family, every utensil did as it was charmed; the knife chopped the vegetables perfectly and the peeler peeled potatoes without complaining. She used to like that she actually had control in her kitchen.

Now, however, she had control of her entire house; there was no thundering down the stairs or fighting siblings in the living room, no complaining about getting rid of the gnomes and noisily arriving flying cars. There was just silence in her house now. So much silence that all she could hear was her husband outside in his shed, tinkering with muggle rubbish.

It was almost depressing, when she thought of it as bluntly as that. She wasn't depressed, though; she wasn't even sad. How could she be when she'd gotten everything she ever wanted out of life? She'd lived a comfortable and, for the most part, easy life. And almost every single one of her children were totally and completely happy. There was nothing more a mother could ever want than for her sons and daughters to be in happy families of their own.

She couldn't wish for anything more.

So even in this lonely silence, while she waited for her now-adult children and grandchildren to arrive for dinner, she couldn't be sad. In fact the silence was almost peaceful; peace was somehow still a rarity in The Burrow due to the stream of visitors.

All was so quiet, that she heard the family clock creak as the hands moved. Having nothing else to do, she ran to observe where her children were. She tended to do this, purely to be nosy. Looking at the clock tended to prove things to her; the day Fred's hand had disappeared it proved to her he was really dead, and the day the clock had created a new second hand with the name _James Sirius Potter _upon it had proved she was a Grandmother. Today, however, the clock simply proved her suspicions; George still hadn't bothered to leave his home yet, Bill wasn't going to be at the meal at all as he was still at work and Ron and Ginny were still at Platform 9 and 3/4s. Charlie's hand pointed to _travelling_ as it always did while he ventured the world, and Percy and his daughter's hands would point to _holiday _for the next two weeks while they visited Italy.

She turned and scanned her living room, checking it was at least acceptable for visitors. It wasn't, of course; even without her children littering the place it was still as cluttered as always. Sometimes she wished it was a little tidier, like Ron and Hermione's or Harry and Ginny's, which wasn't as messy but still had character. She was glad, however, that it wasn't like Bill and Fleur's which, thanks to Fleur, was tidied daily and was completely devoid of character. She found comfort however in the fact that George's house was far more unorganised than hers.

The clock creaked again, and she stopped rearranging the cushions on the sofa and watched as George's hand moved from _home _to _travelling _and then rested again on _home._

"Mum?" she heard him calling seconds later from the fireplace, which he stepped out of as she hurried towards him.

"Arthur!" she called as she greeted her son. "Arthur, they're arriving! Will you please stop messing about with that muggle rubbish and-?"

"Yes dear!" She heard him shout back from the shed, before turning her attention back to George.

"How are you dear, where's Angelina?"  
"I already told you Mum, she promised to go to tea at the Bell's today."  
"Oh yes, I remember." Molly replied as George sat himself on the sofa. "But she will be here for Rose's birthday on Thursday, won't she?" Her son nodded, and Molly was about to speak again when she was interrupted by the slam of the back door.

"Molly, why did you call me back when no one's even here yet- Oh, hello George!" Her husband bumbled into the living room, and then sat down next to his son. "How's the business going, son? Still planning on selling it?"

"No, I changed my mind." George shrugged. He'd hardly changed since he was a teenager; there were moments when Molly wondered if she'd gone back in time. He still had the same carefree eyes, even if they were a little aged now. He still smiled in the same way, even if sometimes it seemed like it took effort. "I decided to hold off for a little while and then teach Fred the ropes. I think he really wants to run it, and I doubt I could cope with anyone but a Weasley owning it anyway!"  
Molly smiled at her son, pride hitting her again that he'd made such a success of himself, before she offered the two of them tea.

"Thanks Mum." George replied, and Molly nodded and walked through to the kitchen. She watched as the teapot flew out of the cupboard and began to fill itself from the tap after one flick of her wand, and with another swish around fifteen cups and saucers laid themselves out on a tray. She vaguely listened to her husband and son's conversation as she did so; they discussed Bill's work commitments which meant he couldn't come for dinner tonight, and meant George would have to take Louis and his friend home this evening.

She flicked her wand again, commanding the sugar packet to fill the sugar bowl, but nothing happened. She tried again, before opening the cupboard and finding no sugar. She groaned to herself, as she had previously vowed to remind herself to get more sugar out of the scullery, before going searching for it herself.

The scullery, unlike her kitchen, was cold, dark and disorganised. She allowed her wand to create light before she surveyed the shelves for sugar. Having found it, she went back into the kitchen and filled the sugar bowl, now the rest of the completed tray was practically shaking as it waited for it.

She returned to a living room which was far fuller than it had been when she left it. She looked around, wondering how she couldn't have heard their arrival, before smiling to herself and immersing herself in the chaos of welcoming, introducing and sitting.

"Hugo it's so lovely to see you!"  
"Grandma!" She hugged the small ginger boy, before turning to the scowling blonde boy by his side.

"Louis, why do you look so angry?"

"He lost a bet." Hugo laughed.

"Betting? At your age?"

"I've already told them it's inappropriate!" Hermione said from behind her, and Molly span to embrace her daughter in law.

"Was the journey alright?" she asked.

"Absolutely. Although Al's in the same mood as Louis and Ron's a little tense because Scorpius is here."

Molly followed the brunette's eyeline to see two boys stood on the edge of the greetings.

It was clear which of them Scorpius was from his blonde hair and grey eyes, and the other, she assumed, was Louis' friend that George had mentioned.

She walked towards them, not wanting them to feel even a little unwelcome in her home, and smiled.

"Hello, you must be Scorpius. And you are?"  
"Jake Thomas." The other, slightly smaller boy replied.  
"Well Jake, welcome to my home. I'm Molly, the children's grandmother and-" she turned, and caught her husband's eye before gesturing for him to come over. "This is my husband Arthur."  
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Weasley." Scorpius replied politely.

"Please, call me Arthur!" Molly's husband remarked. "And feel free to sit down."

The two boys obeyed, both going to sit closer to their connections with the family; Jake sat next to Louis and Rose moved up the sofa so Scorpius could sit between her and Al.

Now everyone was seated it seemed much less chaotic. Ron was leaning back on his armchair, looking a little on-edge, and Harry was discussing the Ministry with Hermione from Ron's side. Ginny was talking about a Quidditch match with George and the children were all involved in their own conversations.

"Hold up, Gin, haven't you forgotten four of the kids?" George suddenly remarked as he looked around at the children.

"Nope, these are the only ones that got off the train."  
"Where're the rest of them?" George asked, as Molly and Arthur both sank into armchairs and she _accio_-ed the tea to her side.

"They're not coming home this holiday." Al said grumpily.

"Why not?" George asked nosily.

"Because Roxy wanted to stay, and they all wanted to stay with her-"  
At this point, all of the children turned and gestured at Al; there was clearly some secret that he was coming close to slipping.

"Why? What's going on?" Ginny asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing!" Hugo lied badly.

"Nothing's going on; they stayed to, erm-"  
"Revise for their exams!" Rose said uncertainly, as all of the children glanced at each other uncomfortably.

"Fred and James, revise? Not likely; what's going on with them?"  
"Nothing." Hugo repeated.

"Yeah. Nothing." Lily nodded. "Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about-"  
"Jake!" Al smiled for the first time, while Lily seemed to glare right back. While Molly and the other adults didn't understand what was happening, they seemed to give up and conversation turned to Jake Thomas.

After they seemed to have fully covered this topic they discussed the Hogwarts Quidditch matches, then actual Quidditch and then went on to discuss school. From school they went onto the parent's lives at home while the kids had been away; work at the ministry and at the shop. They also discussed the Christmas holidays, and the children managed to once again skate over the question of where the older children were. Their conversation finally turned to exams, and how worried or un-worried they were about them. And between all this conversation they somehow managed to fit sitting at the table, slurping soup and homemade bread, eating roast pork and Yorkshire puddings and finally devouring two lemon meringue pies.

"I don't get why they're really that important though."  
"Louis, what you get on your OWLs dictates what NEWTs you can do!" Hermione replied sternly. Ron, at her side, was still looking uncomfortable despite having eaten ridiculous amounts of food, and was staring across the table where Rose sat between Scorpius and Al.

"Yeah, but that's not that important, really. You only need As to do most of them so-"  
"Al, don't encourage him!" Ginny said sternly.

"I'm not encouraging him, Mum, I'm just saying-"  
"Don't you talk back to your Mother, Al."

"I'm not talking back, Dad!"  
"Yeah, Al, you are."  
"Oh shut up, Lily, don't get involved-"

"Don't talk to your sister like that."

Molly sat and observed as the Potter's squabbled, before rising from her seat. "Would anyone like any more food?" she asked calmly, the family turning her heads to her and then mumbling variations of "No thank you."  
"Really?" she asked. "I'm sure they've not been feeding you enough over in Hogwarts."  
"Oh please, all we ever do is eat!" Rose laughed.

"Well then, Al would you like to come and help me wash up?"

Al nodded, knowing (like all of the Weasleys and Potter did) that _'helping wash up_' was code for come and talk and that Molly wouldn't let him go.

"Shall we go and make ourselves comfortable in the living room, then?" Arthur suggested to the rest of them, who stood up and nodded and left a littered table behind.

Al silently began to collect plates, looking almost exactly like his brother for a moment.

"Now then, why are you so angry?" Molly asked, turning to the sink and allowing it to fill with warm, soapy water.

He sighed, and placed the plates by the side of the sink minutes later.

"I'm not-"  
"Albus Severus Potter, you have been moping around and whining all the time I've seen you today."  
She looked at him, having to tilt her head up because he was now so tall. He truly did have his father's eyes; Molly thought it was a shame that he was the only Potter to have inherited them.

"I just want to go back to Hogwarts." He said quietly, looking down into the sink where the plates were now being scrubbed.

"Why?" Molly asked, although she was sure she already knew the answer. He was just like all of her sons had been; while they loved their home and their family, something made them love Hogwarts just that little bit more.

"I don't know. It would just be easier to be there."  
Molly nodded, while her grandson continued to be mystified by the sink.

"Is this about Scorpius being here?" Molly asked calmly, but Al shook his head instantly.

"No. No, he makes Rose happy; it's good he's here."  
"Well then what is it?"

He shrugged. "I'm on my own, really. Rose is with Scorpius, Louis' got Jake and Lily's got... well anyway-"  
"You can keep in touch with your friends from Hogwarts; it's only two weeks Al, nothing can really change."  
"That's true." He nodded. "And I can write to her all the time-"  
"Her? Is this Madeline that was mentioned in that blasted article?"  
"Yeah, yeah Maddie." He smiled just saying her name, which Molly found a little surprising. She always found realising the children were grown up surprising. With Fred and George, it had been when they opened the shop, and she'd realised Ron was really an adult when he'd gone with Harry and Hermione. With Ginny, it hadn't been until Harry had asked permission to marry her, but with Charlie and Bill it was when they'd admitted to liking a girl. In this moment, she realised that Al was of-age too. "But the stuff in that article wasn't true-"  
"I know better than to believe a word I read in the Prophet." Molly replied, and the two of them watched as the plates flew into the cupboards.

"Shall we rejoin the party then, Albus?" She suggested, folding up the dishcloth that she had been holding for no apparent reason.

"Yeah, alright."  
"But Al?" He span around on his way to the door. "Your parents have been looking forward to seeing you." she told him simply, to which he nodded and smiled a little.

He walked back into the lounge with far more energy, for which Molly received grateful glances from her daughter.

Lily then stood up.  
"Grandma, do you mind if I show Jake where the bathroom is?" she asked, as Jake stood up from her side.

Molly looked between the two children – if they could still be called children- and raised her eyebrows. Their expressions were uncannily similar to the expressions Ron and Hermione and Ginny and Harry had worn for the first month after the war, when they had been trying to hide their relationships.

Bearing this in mind, and glancing towards the kids' uncomfortable glances, Molly worked out exactly why Jake Thomas had visited this Easter.

"That's fine with me, are you alright with that Ginny?"  
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Ginny replied, before returning to exploding snap with Hugo, Ron, Louis and George.

Molly smiled, deciding it was better to leave her daughter in ignorance as Jake and Lily headed up the stairs.

She sat down next to Arthur as the snap-players yelled particularly loudly.

"It's nice to have people round, isn't it?" her husband said quietly to her, as they observed the rest of the family.

"Yes." Molly replied simply, not needing to say anything else; this moment was everything she and Arthur had ever wished for.


	51. Still Learning

Hi guys. Right, it is quarter past midnight, and I have to be up in four hours but I'm still updating, because I feel so guilty. I'm so sorry for taking so long, I don't even have a good excuse; work, distraction, HP's birthday party and writers block. I apologise a lot, and I promise you I'll make it up to you all. :D

Anyways, now I'm done feeling guilty (that's a lie, I still feel bad) I'll say thankyou to anyone who has favourited, alerted, reviewed… you're bloody brilliant! :L Reckon you can hit 1000 reviews on this chapter? And 150 favourites? I'm sure you can. :D  
As always anonymous reviewers: _blky111_ (I hope this update makes you smile, and ps I love long reviews, so don't worry), _Dani_ (Of course I love AVPM :D), _VanessaWhite_ (I've added your couple opinions to the poll! :L and thankyou for reading all my story I bet that took forever!), _Lumos_ (Awww thankyou for the recommendations, I'm glad you like it so much!), _Saffy_ (I'm glad you like it!), _stargazer4life_ (Thankyou for finding and liking my story!), _Black Veil_ (Tehe, my chapters are now so much longer than they used to be!) and ___ (I can't wait to go to Orlando!).

I hope you like this chapter, I'm quite proud of it. Yet another different POV, because I needed to kill the writer's block. Anyone who asked for some Ron/Scorpius conversation will be very happy. :D Please keep reviewing, I promise you I'll update again!

_**Disclaimer: **__I'm reading every Harry Potter book again, and this reminds me how amazing JK Rowling is. I'm definitely not her, and therefore definitely do not own the Wizarding World or the characters.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty One- Still Learning)**

Ron folded his arms and leant against the staircase, knowing how childish he looked.

A minute hadn't passed in the last three hours when he hadn't looked at Scorpius. He felt like That Boy needed constant monitoring.

Right now, That Boy was sat on the sofa next to his daughter, engrossed in conversation with the rest of the children about Quidditch while Rose and Louis mocked them. Hermione, Ginny and his Mum had left to talk in the kitchen, and his Dad had been given permission to put out the minor fire that had started in the shed. George, Harry and Ron had positioned themselves away from the sofa, stood around the stairway with bottles of butterbeer in their hands.

"He seems alright, Ron." George pointed out from his side, to which Ron huffed a little.

"This isn't fair, you know. Why do I have to go through this first?" he whined.

"Oi, I went through this last year!" His brother replied.

Ron turned and raised his eyebrows at George. "I meant out of me and Harry; you're older than us."  
"Oh." George shrugged.

The three of them turned to look back at the kids; Louis and Rose had stood up. Louis headed towards the stairs, and Rose went into the kitchen (not before whispering something or other to That Boy through, Ron noticed).

"I'm pretty sure I'll have to go through this with Lily soon though." Harry offered, sounding both worried and comforting.

Louis, having heard this sentence on his way up the stairs, coughed "Sooner than you think."  
All three men turned to the blonde boy, who saw their faces and ran up the stairs speedily.

"I think I should be worried." Harry said simply.

Ron shook his head. "Nah, not really. At least you don't have to do this now; my daughter's boyfriend is sat on that couch; yours isn't."

"That's true."

"Seriously though, what am I meant to do? George, what did you do?"  
"Oh, acknowledging that you're not the first man in the world to go through this are you?" George asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I am. What did you do with Roxy?"  
"Well, it helps to remember that my situation was much worse; I had Roxy and Craig _and _Anna and Fred to deal with."

"It doesn't matter when it's your son, not as much." Harry pointed out. Ron nodded in agreement, but George pulled a face.

"I'll remind you of that when James brings Louise or whatever-she's -called home. But anyway, it's good to lay down the rules early; tell them they're not allowed in bedrooms and make sure they always tell you where they're going."

"Ok." Ron nodded. He didn't really like this; he was rubbish at remembering advice. Hermione would normally write down things he needed to do, because she knew he would forget if she just told him.

"And then you should talk to him. Like, get to know him, but try and enforce your power over him at the same time."  
"Will do." Ron replied, attempting to create some sort of checklist in his mind. This was why he liked being an auror; there wasn't really much to remember.

"And then just follow your instincts."  
Ron rolled his eyes. That advice was all well and good for Harry, who had amazing instincts at everything. But Ron? Ron wasn't really even sure if he had a trace instinct inside him.

He was about to reply with something in this vain, but they were interrupted by his sister's voice.

"It's getting late Harry, we should probably be heading home."  
"Yeah, alright." His best friend replied. "Lily? Al? You ready to go?"

The two children nodded, and as the Potters began to say goodbye Hermione walked towards him.

"Shall we go too?"  
Ron nodded, and then his wife looked at him meaningfully. "Scorpius is nice, Ron. I've sat and talked to him; if you gave him a chance you'd like him."  
"Yeah, we should be heading home." She didn't look too pleased at being ignored. "We're apparating, right?"  
"Yes, George and Ginny are both using the fireplace so it'll probably be quicker."  
"Right, well if everyone's leaving!"

George making his way towards the sofas meant everyone began to say goodbye to each other; Ron hugged his mother, father and brother in quick succession before also saying goodbye to the children. Annoyingly, every one of the adults wished Ron luck with Scorpius as they said bye.  
"Right, kids, are you ready to go?" Hermione asked Hugo, Rose and Scorpius, who were the only kids left on the sofa as everyone else gathered around the fireplace.

Scorpius looked nervous again. Ron liked that; he'd looked far too close to comfortable for a moment earlier.

"Yeah, floo right?"  
"No, we're apparating. In case you haven't noticed there's a bit of a wait over there." Ron told his son, just as Lily and Al squabbled about who was going first.

His son, daughter, and daughter's _friend _stood up and grabbed their trunks from the pile by the sofa. Then Ron reached his arm out for Hugo to hold.

They always side-along apparated like this; the boy with the Dad and the girl with the Mum.

"Scorpius, if you just want to hold on to Rose-"  
"Ahem." Ron cleared his throat. "Actually it might be safer if you hold on to Hermione, instead of Rose."  
Scorpius nodded awkwardly, while Rose whined "Oh God Dad, come on!"  
"Ron, they're allowed to side along together." His wife said, looking at him meaningfully. "We did it all the time when we were travelling-"  
"Yeah, and I _really _enjoyed it."

He smiled at her, and she laughed back a little yet somehow still managed to look stern at the same time. Hermione was the only woman in the world Ron knew that could manage that look.

"Ok, fine, Scorpius hold tight."  
The boy obeyed, took Hermione's arm, and they all disapparated to the sound of the remaining family's goodbyes.

After so many years of apparating, Ron was able to do it without even feeling dizzy. The same, however, could not be said for Hugo, Rose or even Scorpius. They all collapsed on the sofas rather ungracefully when they arrived in their living room.

"I'm really not ready for that Apparition Test." Rose whined as she squeezed her eyes shut on the sofa.

Ron just laughed at his daughter, before Hermione gestured at him.

"Oh, right, yeah. Scorpius, this is our house." Ron said, his voice completely lacking the authority he wished it had.  
Scorpius looked around, and smiled. "It's really nice, sir."  
Ron quite liked being called sir. Hermione, however, had a problem with it.

"Scorpius, you don't have to call him _sir_. Ron is fine. Isn't that right, Ron?"  
"Sure." Ron shrugged, before leaving the living room and walking through the corridor to the kitchen.

After searching through the cupboards for something that would make the week easier, he found a bottle of firewhiskey, but his wife was at his side before he'd even had a chance to open it.

"Ron." She said simply, placing her hands on his and putting the bottle back on the counter. "Calm down; it's ok."  
He sighed, trying to relax, but then he thought of something else. "Have you just left them on their own?" He asked loudly, before going back out of the kitchen door into the corridor. Rose and Scorpius were going up the stairs, Rose pointing at the pictures that lined the walls on her way up.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked his daughter, who turned around and groaned.

"I'm showing Scorp around."  
Ron looked at her, and she looked back. She had her mother's eyes; maybe that was why he always found it so hard to tell her off?

Ron attempted the whole "_following his instincts_" malarkey, which George had advised. "Hugo!" His son's head popped out from his bedroom door on the landing, and he hung himself over the balcony above Ron.

"What?"  
"Help Rose show Scorpius around. He's staying in your room." Ron commanded, feeling quite proud of himself for this solution.

"What's the point of that? She practically lives in his dorm at Hogwarts so there's no point splitting them up now."

Ron turned his head back to That Boy, and raised his eyebrows.

The kid seemed to squirm a little, while Ron barely heard Rose yelling at her brother.

"Don't shout at me for telling the truth!" Hugo replied to whatever his sister had said.

"Eugh, you're so bloody annoying-"  
"Rose, Hugo; do what I say." Ron said simply, watching as the two children stormed across the landing and Scorpius followed slowly. "And Rose you and Scorpius are never allowed in the same bedroom!" he yelled after them, which Rose replied to by groaning even louder.

Ron then returned to the kitchen, where his wife was sitting and reading at the table.  
He sat down opposite her and put his head in his hands.

"How are you?" she asked, putting her book down and looking up at him through her beautiful brown eyes.

He shrugged. "This week is going to be hell, isn't it?"  
"Only if you make it so." She sighed. "Look, Ron, I know you don't want to hear it, but Scorpius is a really nice boy. He's top of his class and he plays Quidditch and he's a prefect and..." Ron shook his head stubbornly, and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Never mind, Ron, you just carry on hating him even though it won't make any difference."

"Well what do you think I should do, 'Mione?" he asked.

"I told you earlier; get to know him."

He realised this was the third time he had heard this advice; from Hermione twice and once from George. He decided that, since it was the only real advice he'd been given, he'd listen to it. Just so he could prove it wrong later, of course.

He stood, and walked back to the bottom of the stairs.  
"Scorpius!" he yelled up them, before all three children came out of the door to Hugo's room and stood at the landing.

"What do you want, Dad?" Rose asked, looking at him a little suspiciously. He missed the days his daughter looked at him in complete wonder, like he could never do anything wrong.

"I thought I just told you that you weren't allowed…" he sighed, deciding that there wasn't too much they could do with Hugo in the same room. "I wanted to talk to Scorpius."

"Oh. Alright." Rose replied.

Ron decided to sit in the living room and wait for Scorpius there, while he heard his daughter reassuring That Boy that it would _"be okay"._

Moments later Scorpius Malfoy was stood in the doorway, looking nervous; Ron almost felt like he was interviewing him for a job.

"Er, you can sit down." Ron offered awkwardly, and Scorpius nodded and sat on the edge of the armchair furthest away.

George had told him to "_get to know him, but try and enforce your power over him at the same time_"… Ron wasn't sure if he could multi task.

"So, Scorpius…" he began, clapping his hands together. What had Hermione said? He played Quidditch, was it? "I hear you play Quidditch."

"Erm, yes I do."  
"Where do you play?" Ron asked, almost automatically.

"Keeper."

Ron nodded, but once again found himself talking automatically. Was this the "_following his instinct" _stuff George had been on about?

"I played keeper when I was at Hogwarts."  
"Cool." Scorpius nodded. He still looked nervous, but instead of liking it, Ron was beginning to feel sorry for him.

"Your Dad; he played seeker. Did he not want you in the same place as him?"

"I don't think he cares, since I'm playing for Gryffindor instead of Slytherin."

Ron nodded; he'd forgotten that this Malfoy was in Gryffindor. The sorting hat was rarely wrong, which must mean that this boy wasn't like his father. He was about to test just how different they were, but Scorpius spoke before Ron had a chance.

"Mr Weasley, I'm nothing like my father." Had this boy just read his mind? "I know you hate my father, and I think that hatred is completely justified, but I'm not him. I don't want to be like him."

Ron was amazed when he found himself smiling a little.

And then he was suddenly reminded of when he'd met Hermione's father. He remembered how nervous he'd been for days on end and how he'd eventually just had to sit down with him and tell him how he felt about his daughter.

"I love Rose." Scorpius said, as Ron thought this.

Ron shook his head a little, a battle raging in his head; a battle between being nice to the boy, since he could sympathise so strongly with him, and continuing to make his life difficult because of his surname and the situation.

The good side won.

"I'm glad." He smiled a little again, trying to remember George's advice to "_enforce his power" _but finding it harder and harder. "So what are your intentions towards her?" He'd stolen that word for word from Mr Granger.  
"In-Intentions?" Scorpius gave exactly the same response Ron had all those years ago.

"Yes, you know; your future. Where do you see yourself in a few years' time and does it include her?" Again, an exact Mr Granger quote.

Scorpius seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders. "Mr Weasley, Rose will be in my future for as long as she wants to be."

That was a better response than Ron had given; he had started to talk about the future of the Chudley Cannons as his reply.

"Do you think you'll marry her?" Ron asked, purely to test how much he could get out of Scorpius.

"Maybe, one day, if she wants to."

Ron nodded, and again found himself smiling. "You can go. I'll see you in the morning." He told him, and then he watched as Scorpius nodded and fled.

Ron sighed, and began to agree with his wife that That Boy wasn't really that bad. In fact, he was almost good. After all, he told himself, his daughter had good standards and Albus wasn't likely to be best friends with just anyone.

He thought this for a moment, looking out at the dark sky through the window, before getting to his feet and heading to the door.

Then he heard his daughter's whispers from the landing, and stopped walking and pressed himself against the wall.

"So, you're going to marry me, eh?" she asked. Ron could practically hear her smiling.

"Of course." Scorpius replied simply.

"Well, no offense, but it might push my Dad over the edge if I became a Malfoy."  
Ron nodded in agreement.

"Keep your surname; I'd rather our kids were Weasleys than Malfoys any day."

Ron made a final decision that he did like That Boy… And decided to only call him Scorpius from now on.

"We're having kids, are we?" His daughter teased.

"Night Rose." Scorpius replied, before Ron heard the closing of two doors.

He smiled to himself, before walking back into the kitchen where his wife was still reading.

"You know, Hermione, he's alright he is."  
She shook her head, and stood up and put her arms around his neck.

"You, Ronald Weasley, are one of the most fickle men I've ever met."

"Yeah, I bet your Dad thought that too." He smiled, before kissing his wife quickly. "They're still not allowed alone at any point this week. I like him, but he's still not allowed near my daughter."

Hermione shrugged. "At least you've made a little progress."

Ron was proud of himself; a little progress would do.


	52. Never Knowing

So…It's been a ridiculous amount of days since I updated! :L I'm so so sorry; family holiday gone wrong, then I've been house-hopping with my best friend this week so, erm, yeah… SORRY.  
And, since I'm apologising, I should probably also apologise for the fact that I'm going on holiday next Tuesday to Orlando (HP World!) therefore you'll probably get two (maybe three) chapters out of me before then. Please don't lose faith in me, readers, I am here just busy.

Anyways, thank you (as always) for favourites and alerts and reviews; they really do mean a lot. I HIT 1000! :D Thankyou so so so much! 1 more alert to 200, what do you think?  
As always I've replied to all the reviews I can and thankyou to the rest of you: _Jaye _(Thanks for reading it, and I'm sorry for the wait), _Hermione Can't Draw _(Amazing name. And I'm glad you like my story! :D), _rednose _(Thanks for the review; I loved reading your opinions of all my characters!), _Just me _(I'm glad you liked it!), _VanessaWhite _(I'm glad you liked it; the next chapters set in Hogwarts so you'll find out soon), _Dani _(Thanks for the review, as always. AVP 3), _Raphaelle _(Aww, thanks for the two reviews! Tehe, you were my 1000th so I love you. :L),  
It amazes me that I'm still getting new readers and reviewers; hi newbies, thanks for reading! :D

So, this chapter isn't worth the wait, I don't think. But there'll be more drama soon I swear! :D Biiiig drama. :D

Please keep reviewing!

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Freaking Potter? Not mine.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Two-Never Knowing)**

The truth was that Fred wished he was at home.

He wished he was lying in his broken bed, in his messy bedroom, with his mother shouting up the corridor to make him get up.

He wished he wasn't lying in the dormitory he'd had the time to tidy, next to the trunk he'd sorted, in a pretty much deserted Hogwarts.

At least at home he'd have something to do.

Here, he'd run out of activities within the first two days and he still had another 14 to go.

He'd already flown his broom around the grounds, broken into Al and Scorpius' dorm just to be nosy, had the house elves bake him cake, tested all the products his Dad had sent him in the room of requirement and he'd even completed his homework and done extra revision for his NEWTs.

He was bored out of his head without Anna around.

And Anna _should_ be around; it wasn't like she'd stayed at home this holiday, she was just staying in her dorm, claiming to need to study or sleep.

Fred didn't know what he'd done, but it was getting to him more and more each moment.

He turned his head to his bedside table, and watched his clock tick for a few minutes. Then it was one in the afternoon on a Monday morning, and he could practically hear his mother's shouts getting louder. So he dragged himself out of bed, and threw himself into the shower.

Trying to work out what he'd done to upset Anna was like trying to understand Divination; impossible.

He hadn't said anything to her that he could think of. Nor had he ignored her or pulled a prank on her that she hadn't found funny. In fact, until the holiday had started he'd thought they were getting on better than ever.

He tried to rack his memories for something unusual that could have upset her as he showered, and his thoughts continued as he got dressed into the clothes on the top of his trunk.

Then he trampled down the stairs, into a common room that he could almost guarantee would be empty…

He was wrong.

His cousin was sat in her seat, leaning over a book on her knee.

Fred's suspicion at seeing Dom reading was increased when she stuffed the book away after he cleared his throat.

"What are you reading?" he asked, sitting down.

"Nothing." She lied, making Fred pull a face at her. "It's just this book Vic lent me ages ago; I thought I might read it-"  
"Running out of things to do too?" he laughed a little.

"No, I read all the time!" she replied sarcastically, before leaning her head back and groaning. "There is seriously nothing to do in this school!"

"I know." Fred nodded. "What's James doing?"

"He's gone to ask Professor Longbottom for help before his exams; he's voluntarily seeing a teacher, he's that bored."  
"Merlin, if you now tell me that Roxy's planning her next prank to pull on the staff room then I'll know the world has truly turned upside down."

"Not quite, she and Anna went somewhere."

"Anna?" Fred couldn't help it; he sat up in his seat and leant forward a little. "You mean she's not in your dorm?"

"No, she and Roxy said they had to go somewhere. I don't know, really; I was still in bed."  
Fred nodded, frustrated; his girlfriend was somewhere out there, she wasn't locked away anymore, but Fred didn't know where to find her.

"Did she seem ok?" He asked, his voice a little quieter.

Dom looked up, and then her face suddenly seemed to be taken over by understanding. Then she shrugged. "She didn't say anything; it was Roxy who said bye."

He shook his head. "I don't know what's going on with her." He confessed, feeling a little stupid.  
"I don't either, Fred, I'm sorry."  
"It's alright. I just… do you reckon Roxy knows?"  
"If she does she won't tell you."

Fred nodded, agreeing. His sister would never tell her best friend's secrets, even if the best friend in question was his girlfriend.  
"Do you reckon it's something I've done?" he asked her.

Dom just bit her lip, which was enough of an answer to Fred.

Somehow, and he didn't know how, he'd messed everything up with the girl he loved.

He leant back again, pretending to read the _Daily Prophet_ that had been left on the table, but really once again thinking of how he could have upset her.

Until something in the paper caught his eye; his surname distracted him from his thoughts.

"Have you read this?" he asked Dom, who looked up from her book which she had once again emerged herself in.

"No, what does it say?"  
"There's a whole page on our lot at the train station!"

"Seriously?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, listen to this; _'Ronald Weasley was visibly distressed at the presence of his enemy's son, while Albus Potter was also looking disgruntled around Scorpius Malfoy as reports suggest Al is upset at his best friend and cousin's relationship. Ginny and Harry Potter also seemed distant from Scorpius and, perhaps, the entire group of children arguably due to the article published in January which showed the true behaviour of the teenagers. Noticeably missing from Platform 9 and 3/4s were the three oldest Weasleys and James Potter, which our source from Hogwarts tells us were commanded to stay at school by their parents…' _What a load of rubbish!"

"Why do people feel the need to write utter crap about us?" Dom whined, before returning to her book.

Fred groaned, truly hating life at this moment.

He continued to read the rest of the paper, diverting his thoughts until Anna arrived when he vowed he would just ask her what was going on.

However, she was gone longer than one paper. She was gone longer than two _Daily Prophets_ and one _Witch Weekly's_. She was even gone so long that Dom finished her book and left to go back up to her dorm, and James breezed through the common room up to their dorm with books in his hand.

It was gone five when Anna returned, by which time Fred hardly noticed because he was so hungry.

He stood up though, and she sighed when she saw him.

"Fred, not now." She shook her head tiredly, and Fred bit his lip.

Was this really the two of them falling apart, he wondered? Was this really how he and Anna ended? He knew it was soppy, but he'd never imagined them breaking up; he imagined them spending their lives together, with beautiful little ginger haired- green eyed children.

"Yes, Anna, now." He replied forcefully, telling himself to fight for them.

"Fred I really don't want to-"

"Look, just tell me what's wrong? Tell me what I did?"

She looked up at him, but still didn't meet his eyes.

"Fred, you didn't do anything. Nothing that you shouldn't have-"

"Then how long are you going to avoid me for?" Where his yells came from, he didn't know. He was just so annoyed with her, for not looking at him or explaining or apologising or… He was annoyed with her for not being herself; for not talking to him.

"A long time!" she yelled back, before pushing past him and walking quickly towards the stairs.

"Well can you please just break up with me now then; just get it over with-"  
"I'm not going to break up with you, you idiot!" she shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Well you're acting like it."  
"Well you're acting like a jerk! Just leave me alone…" she sighed, and somehow they weren't angry anymore. She looked really small, stood there with the arch of the staircase towering over her and her arms folded over herself protectively. "I will explain. When I… when I can."

He took a few steps towards her, but when she didn't walk towards him too he stopped.

"I'll just wait, then." He told her, simply.

She nodded. "Thank you." she turned and started to walk up the stairs, before stopping and turning again. "I do I love you."  
"I love you too." He sighed, before watching her walk away.

And even after a conversation with her, after waiting for four hours for her, he knew nothing more than he had before.

…

James felt pretty good. He felt like his parents might be proud of him, for revising and doing his homework and asking for extra help… he wanted them to be proud of him.

He had, in fact, felt good all holiday. His mind didn't seem as clouded since he and Roxy had spoken to Louisa. He still thought about her, but he wasn't asking questions anymore; he was just deciding on his next move.

Rolling up his completed Defence essay, he opened the next book on his pile; _Quidditch Through The Ages. _He told himself he was allowed a break from work, and that winning the Quidditch Cup was just as important, if not more, than his NEWTs.

He was lying on his bed, debating whether he could get Lily and Hugo to perfect the Dopplebeater Defence, or if he and Anna could learn the Porskoff Ploy in time for the next match when Fred stormed inside, slamming the door loudly.

His best friend didn't speak to him; he just stomped straight into the bathroom.

James, not sure what else to do, put his book down, got up, and leant on the wall next to the door.

"Fred, you alright?"  
He heard sniffing, and James was able to answer his own question; no, Fred was most definitely not alright.

"Fred?" he asked again.

"Yeah," James heard scuffling from the bathroom, more sniffing, and Fred's loud fake voice. "Yeah, I'm fine. Am I not allowed to use the bathroom without questioning?"

James laughed weakly. "Well, are you sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." Then the door opened, and Fred stood there with an unquestionably false smile on his face. He was just a little taller than James, which James had always hated. But still, he had ginger hair; James had definitely won there. Fred had the better smile, though, when he truly smiled, and right now he wasn't truly smiling. "I just really bloody hate girls."  
"Oh." James replied, smiling. "Join the club."  
Fred suddenly looked guilty. "Sorry, that was insensitive-"  
"Insensitive? That's a long word for you, Fred. I think you've been reading too many books!"

Fred laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess. Sorry, J."  
"Don't be. We really could make an _I Hate Girls_ club." The truth was that he hadn't even thought of Louisa when he'd made that comment. He'd just been thinking generally.

Because girls said one thing, and did another. They searched for compliments and got offended at stupid things. They told their best friends everything, but found the same behaviour unacceptable from guys. They only put up with complete perfection.

Louisa hadn't been like all those other girls.

"So, what has Anna done?" James asked, distracting his mind from Lou again. He found himself doing this at least six times a day.

"She's just… Never mind, it'll work out."

To James, it was obvious that Fred had decided against complaining to James, thinking his problems were nothing compared to James'. He was disappointed; he thought it would be quite nice to hear that everything wasn't perfect for everyone else.

But he didn't push Fred; Fred hated talking about anything serious and James knew it, so instead he suggested they went downstairs for dinner, which Fred agreed to.

They ate dinner normally; they discussed tactics for the next Quidditch match. Unusually, however, on the walk back towards the common room they shared notes on the Charms essay they had to write. Fred and James only ever really discussed homework to complain about it, not to compare ideas.

They walked back into an almost completely empty common room, where only Roxy was sat in the corner on the fireplace.

"Hey." James sat down, and greeted Roxy, who smiled at him.

Fred, however, did not greet his sister in the same amicable way James did.

He made a noise that James thought sounded somewhere between a grunt and a growl.

"What's wrong with you?" Roxanne demanded.

"You know." He told her.

"No, I don't. I'm not a mind reader."

"Yeah, you do. You know whatever's wrong with Anna." He still hadn't sat down; he was towering over both James and Roxy from his position between the sofa and the fireplace.

"I can't tell you, sorry." She replied simply.  
"What happened to family before friends?"

James felt uncomfortable. Unlike the rest of the family, Roxy and Fred didn't really bicker like the other siblings. Instead they had huge but rare arguments.

However, for one of these arguments to happen both Fred and Roxy needed to be in equally bad moods. Otherwise, one of them would just ignore the other. If they were both in an equally stubborn mood though, it would take barely seconds for them to yell at each other. Fred, James knew, was in the perfect mood for an argument; he almost seemed to be waiting for one. Roxy though, James wasn't sure about.

He just sat silently, thankful that the common room was empty so no one could report any arguments to the _Prophet_, and watched Roxy's reaction.

"Fred, I'm sorry. She'll tell you in her own time; she has to." James stopped himself smiling when he realised that Roxy seemed too docile to argue today.

"And what am I meant to do until then?" he asked her, angrily.

"I don't know, do I?"

Fred flounced out of the common room, stomping up the stairs as he did so.

James couldn't help himself, and turned to Roxy. "So, what is wrong with Anna?"

She shook her head. James wondered if her previous calmness had been a front, because she now bit her lip and looked worried. "I can't tell you. But it's big, James. Really big."

James nodded, figuring he didn't want to push her into talking. So instead he changed the subject to the Charms homework.

"You're talking about Charms?" Roxy asked him back, tilting her head before laughing. "Wow, you really are bored this holiday."

"Well aren't you?" He replied indignantly.

"Not really." She shrugged. "McGonagall's got us doing extra head-duties; cleaning classrooms, checking common rooms, supervising revision sessions-"  
"Sounds interesting." He said sarcastically, before another thought came into his head. "Wait, does that mean _they_ told you about head meetings?"  
"Yeah… Yeah, Craig told me there was a meeting on Saturday morning."

If James had ever seen an unreadable facial expression before, Roxy's wiped the floor with it. She had a slight smile on her lips, but anger clouding her eyes and seemed almost sad in the way she moved to sit.

"So you've talked to them?" he asked, shifting his weight on the sofa.

"Not really. He passed me a piece of paper and walked off."

"But in the meeting?"  
"No. Craig didn't say anything and Louisa wasn't even there." James couldn't control his heart, which beat just a little faster when Roxy said her name. "We were on common room duty together yesterday, but we didn't say anything to each other."

The thought of Louisa walking silently next to the girl that had once been her best friend made James feel sorry for her, even though he didn't really want to.

"Are you happier without her?" she said quietly, as if she could hear James brain whirring as he fought to stop thinking about her.  
"Are you happier without him?" he asked back, avoiding the question because he didn't know the answer.

"Yes." She replied easily, unnerving James; was he meant to be that sure too? That sure that he didn't want Louisa at his side? "Because I didn't realise I was unhappy before. And now I know that I'm not."

James nodded, not sure what to reply. He, unlike Roxy, had been happy with Louisa, happier than he ever remembered truly being. With her, it was like he was constantly flying through the sky.

So no, he wasn't happier without her. He wasn't happier without Louisa. He was happier without the girl who cheated on him.

He was beginning to see them as two different people; Louisa and _the girl who cheated on him_.

"Do you think you could forgive her?" Roxanne asked, as James continued to think.

He wondered for a moment if, maybe, him separating Louisa and the girl who cheated was him forgiving her.  
"Have you forgiven them?"

She nodded, which James didn't expect. She wasn't meant to forgive them; she was the stubborn, proud one.

"I don't think I meant to forgive him. It just happened as I shouted at him; I realised that I wasn't angry with him for hurting me, I was angrier at him for hurting, well, you and Louisa. And she's yours to forgive, not mine."

"I can't." he shook his head.

"I know. You and Louisa were different to me and Craig. Looking back, it seems like we were only together because we were expected to be. I don't think I really loved him; it seemed fake. Not honest like you and Lou. I've never really seen love like you two-"  
"Don't." he said quietly. He didn't want to hear how good he and Louisa had been together because he already knew it. He didn't want to hear that he'd fought for her for so long, because it just made him feel stupid. He didn't want to hear Roxy say, as Dom had, that it was almost romantic that Louisa had slept with Craig because she convinced herself it was him.

Because she still slept with him. She still slept with a guy who wasn't James, who was in fact her best friend's boyfriend.

And no matter her excuses, he realised, he couldn't get over that.

Louisa and _the girl that cheated on him_ were the same person, and he knew it.

"I can't forgive her." He sighed deeply, as this realisation hit him. "She ruined everything."

Roxy stood up, looking back at him as if she understood all too well.

"That's a shame." She said simply, a dreaminess and simplicity to her voice that reminded James of Aunt Luna. "Because we all know you're still in love with her."  
And then she walked away, and James didn't have the energy to yell her back and deny it.

She was right, and that was the problem.

He was in love with her, but he couldn't forgive her. And he never would.


	53. Different Situations

Sorry in advance for the long AN; I have lots to say! :D

Good evening to you all! Or morning, or afternoon… whatever time it is, Hi!

You will not believe what I'm doing tomorrow…Meeting Rupert Grint. Oh yes, I won this competition thing and I am now going to meet the man himself; Ron Weasley. Just thought I should make you all jealous! :D :D

Thank you all for the reviews of the previous chapter! AND you got me to 200 alerts! Thankyou! Anyways, as always anonymous reviewers: _Hermione Can't Draw _(Thankyou, and you'll see about Anna), _Just me _(You'll find out soon! :D), _rednose _(Thanks for the review; I love hearing everyone's opinions!), _Cboz _(You'll find out soon! :D) and _Raphaelle _(Well, I'm not making you wait as much this time! :D).  
I think I replied to the rest of you, but I'm very tired so if not I'm sorry!

Anyway, I'm back on track with the updates, or at least it hasn't been another ten days! However… I'm going to Florida the day after tomorrow for two weeks, so I'm really sorry but there's going to be another wait. But, I promise I'll come back with a bang (Oh yes, I've written the next chapter and it is good, I must say.)

Finally, I want to ask you all some questions again (because last time the answers you gave really inspired me, and I'd quite like inspiration!);  
1) Since everyone has their theories, what do you think is wrong with Anna?  
2) Who's your favourite character?  
3) Who's your least favourite out of the kids?  
4) (And this one's a biggy…) Who's your favourite couple?

_**Disclaimer: **__If Harry Potter was mine, things would've ended a little differently. It doesn't so they didn't.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Three- Different Situations)**

Normally, at 7am, the Potter house was silent. In fact, normally, at 7am the entire muggle street on which the Potters lived was silent.

This morning, though, Al Potter sat wide awake, staring out of the window.

In the long, boring summer holidays, Al liked to watch the muggles entertain themselves through this window. He often wondered how muggles managed to have as much fun as wizards did without brooms or wands or pranks. He still couldn't answer his question; they seemed to spend very little time outside, and when they did they would be attempting to balance on wooden boards or shoes with wheels on and mostly, they spent their time inside, watching a box flash pictures at them.  
This morning, though, Al was looking out his window and towards the sky, watching and waiting for…

A small speck appeared above the woods on the horizon, and Al watched as it got larger and larger. By the time the speck was hovering above the houses across the street it was no longer a speck but an owl.

An owl which launched itself at Al's closed window; not a particularly bright owl, Al realised.

Opening his window and pressing his finger to his lips, as if in conversation with the stupid owl, a thought suddenly reached Al's mind.

To any wizarding outsiders, this moment would look like a re-enactment of his father's adolescence; waiting until dawn for an owl, which he then smuggles inside his room.

However, unlike his father, Al's letter didn't contain news regarding the welfare of the wizarding world. No, Al's letter was from his girlfriend.

_Al, _  
_I'm really starting to miss you now, which I realise is stupid since it's only been five days. But the more I write to you, the more I wish I was talking to you. Know what I mean?_  
_As you may have noticed, I had to change owls; Kenrick got too tired after the letters yesterday, so I used Stitch instead. She's a bit slower than Ken though and a lot stupider. You'll have to tell her to come straight back here, otherwise she'll go and visit my Aunt Jenny in Ireland on the way; Jen gave her chocolate one year and Stitch has been a little obsessed with her ever since. And that's why I don't bother to take my stupid owl with me to Hogwarts._  
_Sorry, I know my writing isn't really making much sense; I got up at ridiculous o'clock to write this, since I have to if we're going to beat yesterday's 17. I'm pretty sure we can, since I started at six and we'll carry on 'til one in the morning again._  
_I'm not going to get any sleep until we go back to Hogwarts am I? Us and our stupid letter-writing._  
_But it's nice to write to you this much; it's almost like you're here._  
_Mum's starting to get annoyed with the owls though; she says I could write to you any time, but I only have these two weeks to talk to her. Yawn; I'd far rather write to you. _  
_By the way, I asked her about Diagon Alley, and she looked a bit off about it. Says she wants to meet you first. Oh well, there's always Summer. _  
_Anyway, Stitch has my wand in her mouth now, so I should write faster before she sets something on fire. _  
_Write back quickly. And I mean quickly; you can't take longer than an hour or there's no way we'll beat yesterday._  
_I love you._  
_Maddie. _  
_Ps. Tell Rose Happy Birthday for me? I'll send her present with one of my letters later; tell me when you're at your Grandparents, yeah?_  
_Xxx_

Al smiled to himself as he read her letter, and then was about to reply before he looked up at the owl which was now hopping along the windowsill. Al put his wand in his pocket as he looked at the owl warily, and then he began to write back.

_Mads, _  
_It's too early, I swear. But two letters down before 8 in the morning; we're definitely going to beat yesterday's totals. Although I'm not particularly sure why we care about beating ourselves? Must have been something we came up with early this morning, because I was barely awake when we wrote those letters; I don't remember what I wrote. And then my alarm woke me up this morning._  
_But, I do quite like the idea of beating our totals; it's quite fun to bug Lily with all the letters I get. She and Jake are still pretending not to be together, so no letters for her! _  
_It's a shame we can't meet up in London; I would've liked to see you, but I guess it's only ten more days until we're back at Hogwarts, right?_  
_I will tell Rose happy birthday from you; what have you got her? I have a feeling my presents going to be rubbish compared to everyone else's!_  
_I love you more._  
_Al. x_

He passed his letter to Stitch quickly, before turning back to his bed and collapsing on top of it.

Then, thinking of owls and letters and Hogwarts and Maddie, his eyes closed again in the exhaustion that had come from so little sleep.

Dreams were something that didn't commonly come to Al. He wasn't a creative person, nor was he particularly perceptive, so his dreams tended to be him reliving past experiences; the time he first caught a snitch or the day Lily was born.

Lately, however, Al's dreams had been something that didn't seem to include him; it was foggy moments of the party after the first Quidditch match. He saw James and Louisa dancing on the table, fireworks fizzing around his head, and in the distance through the crowd he saw Rose dancing with Scorpius, and Anna and Fred walking up the dorm stairs together.

And although Al knew he had been at the party that night, he didn't know if this memory was real or something his brain was conjuring so he felt less guilty about forgetting whatever Maddie wanted him to remember.

"Al? Al are you awake?" He was woken up by Lily's voice. "Al?"  
He opened his eyes reluctantly and sat up to look at his sister. She had shut the door behind her and was sat down on the end of his bed, fully dressed and fully awake unlike Al.  
"Morning Lils." He said, turning to his clock and seeing it was now nine thirty. "What's up?"

She shrugged. "I need your help." She said simply.

"With what?"  
"I need you to distract Mum and Dad, so me and Jake can hang out for a little while. Louis said he'd help but it'll start to look suspicious if he keeps bringing up random conversations with Dad. Please?" Lily fluttered her eyelashes a little, and Al pulled a face like he was thinking.

"Er… no." he said, crossing his arms. "There's no way I'm helping you and Jake; James isn't here so it's up to me to be the responsible big brother-"  
"Annoying big brother you mean? Come on, Al, I'd do it for you and Maddie!" she whined, crossing her arms in the same way Al just had.  
"You wouldn't!"  
"I would, and I will; whenever you need me. I'll trip up Scorpius so you and Mads get the dorm to yourself or debate Quidditch with Rose or-"  
"I don't need you to help me and Maddie. Unlike you, _we_ don't need to hide."  
"Please!" she begged, before changing her eyes to glare-mode and changing her method of persuasion. "I guess I'll have to tell Mum about what you and Madeline get up to then."  
He laughed a little. "That's weak, Lils. Me and Maddie don't _'get up to'_ anything."  
"Mum doesn't know that though, does she? I could tell her about the time I found you in a compromising position in the Quidditch changing rooms, or that you once got detention from McGonagall for doing something inappropriate in a classroom-"  
"Neither of those things happened!" Al said frustratedly, sitting up further and glaring back at his sister. She looked so much like their mother when she had her eyebrows raised challengingly.

"Fine. I'll cover for you. But only today, Lils, the rest of the time you're just going to have to sort yourselves out."  
"Thank you bro." she said, in a stupidly sickeningly-sweet voice.

"But Lily, why don't you just tell them?"

"Because they'd know we lied until now." She said, matter-of-factly. "Trust me, it's easier this way."

"It doesn't feel any easier." Al mumbled. He reached out and pulled a jumper over his head, and was about to head downstairs for breakfast before he jumped up when he heard a bang on the window. He turned and saw Stitch scrabbling at the glass confusedly.

After Al opened the window, Stitch eyed him, looking frustrated at being locked out, then dropped the letter and flew out of the window in a second.  
"Wait, you stupid bird!" Al yelled, leaning out of the window, watching as the small owl flew over the chimneys defiantly.

He sighed, before turning his head a little in the direction of voices.

The neighbours, a family of three small children and parents, were looking up at him, frozen at the doors of their car.

"Morning." Al said, nodding awkwardly. The adults just smiled and waved oddly before continuing their business.

Al retreated into his bedroom, and turned to see his sister laughing on his bed.

"Nice, Al. Well done with acting normal in front of the muggles; yelling at birds out of the window."

"Shut up." Al replied, picking up the letter and turning it over in his hand. He looked up at Lily again, before deciding not to open Maddie's letter until she'd left him alone.  
"Where did the owl go anyway?"  
"Ireland." He replied, knowingly. "Reckon Mum'll let me borrow Mimsy to write back?"  
"You can't; I sent a letter to James at Hogwarts."  
"Oh great." Al replied sarcastically, mentally deciding to steal his Dad's owl when he next had an opportunity. He then sighed and folded his arms again. "How is our idiotic brother anyway?"  
"I wouldn't know; he's not written back yet."

Al nodded, wondering about James. Both of them felt the same, Al could tell; he and Lily both felt they weren't doing enough to help him through all the Louisa drama.

"Reckon he'll be ok?" Al asked quietly, realising this was the first time he'd voiced his worries about his sibling.

"I don't know. I don't think I've talked to him enough-"  
"Me neither." Al said, and he and Lily both wore identically guilty expressions for a moment.

"But he has got Roxy and Fred and Dom." Lily said defensively.

"Yeah, it's not like he's alone, is it?" Al replied.

Lily nodded. "Exactly."

They both fell silent for a moment, before Lily spoke again.

"Are you worried about him too, Al? I mean he's our brother and I just worry he's not going to be okay again…"  
But Lily stopped talking because the door had opened, and their mother stood in the doorway.

"Why would you be worried about James?" Their mother demanded nosily.

"No reason, Mum." Lily replied, shaking her head.

"Yeah, we're just being stupid."  
"That's not true." Ginny said simply, frowning at her two youngest children. "What's going on?"

Al and Lily looked at each other meaningfully, knowing that James and Roxy had made them promise not to tell. At the same time, though, Al thought that telling his mother may make it better; his Mum could make James see it all differently.

Lily must have been feeling the same, because she sighed and shook her head. "Fine, we'll tell you."

Al weakly protested out of loyalty, but then they gave up and told their mother about everything James-Craig-Roxy-and-Louisa related. And all the while Maddie's letter practically burnt a hole in his hand; he missed the simplicity of writing to his girlfriend without his family's drama distracting him all the while.

…

Scorpius had woken up to Rose on top of him, her legs either side of his body, and while it was a wonderful way to wake up, he couldn't help but know where they were. He'd pointed out that her brother was nearby to see him hanging above his bed, looking furious even upside down.

Rose was, as Al had been, excited at being able to do magic.

She'd spent the entire morning flicking her wand at every available opportunity; it began with Hugo torturing, and she then summoned breakfast up the stairs. She then bound Hugo's body and used the opportunity to kiss Scorpius good morning (the first kiss they'd managed to have since the beginning of the holidays) and then, after Scorpius watched her mother shouting at her to stop using magic on her brother, he watched as Rose taunted Hugo with her wand as he tidied his room.

The best magic Rose had used, however, was when she locked Hugo in the bathroom for a few moments, and locked herself in Hugo's room with Scorpius.

Having known they were pressed for time, Rose mindful that Scorpius was more likely to look bad in Ron's eyes, they had kissed for barely minutes before Scorpius gave her her birthday present. She'd liked it, as Scorpius hoped, though he was sure it was nothing overly special. He'd simply bought her a bracelet, engraved with her name and the date, and an original copy of _Hogwarts: A History, _her favourite book.

As they had expected, it hadn't been long until Rose's mother had attempted to get into the bathroom. Scorpius was thankful it was her mother, not Ron, because Hermione simply told Rose off again but let it go because it was her birthday. Scorpius had a feeling Ron wouldn't be as lenient.

The Weasley family were quite predictable like that, while Scorp couldn't predict his family as they didn't spend any time together.

The Weasley house, or in fact the Weasleys as a family, was like nothing Scorpius had ever experienced before. The Weasleys were in fact, Scorpius thought, the exact opposite of everything the Malfoys were. The Malfoys were quiet; the Weasleys were loud. The Weasleys were close; the Malfoys were distant. The Malfoys didn't talk about the past; the Weasleys laughed about stories of their lives. To the Malfoys, physical possessions were everything; the Weasleys just seemed happy to have each other. Scorpius was lucky if he saw his parents once a day; Rose ate with her parents and brother every meal when they could, and they visited the rest of their family at every available opportunity. At the Weasley house, Scorpius felt happy and alive; Malfoy Manor was the exact opposite.

Scorpius thought this as he arrived in The Burrow with Rose, Hugo, Hermione and Ron for the second time in the last few days.

It was easier this time, Scorpius realised; he already knew Rose's Grandparents and most of her Aunts and Uncles. He was only newly introduced to Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur, but other than that he was relatively comfortable with everyone.

Yes, that was how the Weasleys made him feel. _Comfortable_;almost like he belonged there, even if his surname dictated that he didn't.

As Rose was dragged away by her Grandmother to see her birthday cake, Scorpius chatted to Louis and Jake about the last few days.

"How's it going then?" Scorpius asked the younger boys.

Jake smiled and said it was fine, but Louis shook his head.

"He won't stop talking about Lily." Louis moaned, checking the immediate area for parents as he did so.  
Scorpius laughed a little. "You only saw her five days ago!" He told Jake.  
"Not even that! Lily and Al came over two days ago. And I had to distract Uncle Harry and Dad for ages; I looked like a right idiot asking about gnomes-"  
"Look, I said thanks."  
"Yeah, and I said I'm not doing it again." Louis replied. "God, it's bad enough you're going out with my cousin." Louis laughed as Jake did the same, and then the three of them sat down and discussed the way they'd spent their time.

That was until the fire crackled, and the Potters stepped out of it.

Scorpius still found it bizarre to actually see Harry Potter. He could tell Jake felt the same; even though they were so close to the Potter children, it had never truly dawned on them who their Dad was. But it was Harry Potter. Harry – the boy who lived – Potter. And he couldn't help but watch him greet his family with a little awe in his face.

"Hey!" Al and Lily sat next to the three boys, greeting them casually.

Scorpius had, he would admit, found it a little weird spending so much time with Rose without Al around. They were a unit of three for almost five years; that only really changed this year, but Al had still always been around.

Scorpius loved it though; he liked it just being him and Rose. He just missed Al because he was his best friend.

"How's it going at the Weasleys?" Al asked Scorp as Louis, Jake and Lily emerged themselves in conversation.

"Fine. Yeah, it's good."  
"See I told you that you had nothing to be worried about."

Scorpius pulled a face. "Not once in the last few months have you said that."  
"Well, I meant to." He replied, smiling cheekily.

"What's it like being home?"  
"Boring." Al yawned. "I'm seriously considering jumping on a broomstick and flying back to Hogwarts."

Laughing, Scorpius watched as Rose headed back out of the kitchen.

"Hey." Rose said, sitting on the sofa between Al and Scorpius.

"So, seventeen year old, how are you?"

"I'm good thanks." Rose replied.

Al smiled, then nodded. "Oh, I forgot I have to tell you…"  
"Right, presents!" Molly Weasley called from the doorway and Al, Scorpius and Rose shared a look that meant they'd finish the conversation later.

They even opened presents differently at the Weasleys; instead of Scorpius being sat alone in his bedroom, opening the presents left on the end of his bed, Rose opened her presents surrounded by her family.

Because she had millions of family members, Rose had nearly as many presents or cards. Packages were sent from France and London and Scotland; Rose had cards from Professor Longbottom, the Minister for Magic and even readers of the Daily Prophet.

Every present almost screamed Rose Weasley; books and vintage jewellery and little magical trinkets that no one else would find a use for.

Al, as a joke, presented Rose with _Quidditch Through The Ages_, but when she opened it she found the cover fell off and _Tales Of Beetle The Bard _was inside. As tradition dictated, Ron and Hermione bought Rose a watch for her birthday, which made both Rose and Ron cry as they realised how she was growing up.

Scorpius liked the feeling here; he felt almost as if he belonged.

However things turned awkward again when George gave Rose her last card.

"It's a new thing at the shop. See the balloons on the front? There are ten of them; they each represent something you can legally do now and they pop when you've done it. The list is on the inside."

Rose smiled, and Scorpius read the list inside the card over her shoulder.

_Perform magic outside school.  
Drink alcoholic substances.  
Purchase brooms with the ability to move at speeds over 200 miles an hour._  
_Attain an apparition licence._  
_Take muggle driving lessons._  
_Have sex._  
_Get married. _  
_Start a job._  
_Legally leave school, without permission from parents._  
_Purchase a hippogriff, niffler, Fire crab, Porlock or Kneazle. _

"Right, so if you close the card now…" Rose did so and, with a loud bang, two balloons popped. "So you've done magic and… Rose, what else have you done?"

At the same time, the adults' eyes moved from Rose to Scorpius, eyeing him suspiciously.

And then Scorpius wanted the ground to swallow him whole.  
"I've drank alcohol!" Rose said impatiently, glaring at Al and Hugo who had begun to laugh.

"Oh, right. Yeah alright." George nodded, then stood up. "Food?" he suggested, and everyone deliberately broke out into loud conversation.

Rose turned, and glared at Al again, who was still laughing.  
"You should have seen Scorpius' face!" he said between sniggers.

"Oh, shut up!" Scorpius commanded. "What were you going to tell us before?"

The smile then vanished from Al's face, then he sighed. "We told Mum."  
"Told your Mum what?"

"About James and Roxy and Louisa."  
"Oh."

As if forced to, all three of them turned their heads towards the adults, where Ginny , Harry and George looked to be in the middle of a very important conversation.

"Oh crap." Al sighed, shaking his head.

"You got that right." Rose nodded.

And Scorpius thought to himself, as much as he felt like he belonged here, there was always drama around the Weasleys, whether at Hogwarts or home.


	54. Too Much Information

Good evening all. Ok, so I'm not the world's best updater- I was on holiday, then I started at my new school and it was my birthday… Crazy times. Oh, and I met Rupert Grint; that was pretty crazy.

So, number one thing to bring up; what I've been up to. The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter is incredible. That is all. And Rupert is the most lovely person on earth; anyone who wants more info from when I met him you can PM me; I'll gladly boast.

Next thing to do is thank all of my reviewers, alerters, favouriters and readers; thankyou so much, and thank you for being so very patient! As always, anonymous reviewers; _memmem, Dani _(twice!)_, Just me, Nat 22, Raphaelle, ameliapondiswow, rednose, diagonallyderanged _and_ cboz. _

Finally, I will be updating again soon, I swear.  
I hope you all like this chapter; I do.

Ps. Thanks for all your answers. They were so interesting. And I've made some rather interesting decisions using them! Tehehee, you'll see!  
In reading these answers though, I've realised my characters/couples are like marmite; people either love them or hate them, ie. Dom, Lily/Jake, Al/Maddie… Crazy.

_**Disclaimer: **__I have a wand, but it won't work. I'm still not JK Rowling and I don't own HP.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Four- Too Much Information)**

One week of the Easter Holidays had passed.

To Fred, it felt like a lifetime.

After his one conversation with Anna, he hadn't seen her at all.

After finishing all his homework and revising more than he physically thought possible, he felt no smarter.

And after a week of holidays, Fred just wished that school would start again.

This morning, he'd deliberately made a conscious effort to wake up in time for breakfast because the house elves were at the point where they already had his breakfast out for him if he went in any time after midday, and that was just depressing.

James was already awake, probably already downstairs, so Fred walked down on his own.

The hall was even more unusually empty than it had been on the first day of the holidays; it was clear to Fred that he wasn't the only person who had abandoned normal mealtimes. However Roxy, Dom and James were sat in the same place they always were, in the middle of the Gryffindor table, looking sleepy.

"Hey." Fred said unenergetically, sitting next to Roxy and stealing her toast off her plate.

"Oi." She said weakly, snatching the toast back and putting it into her mouth.

"Well I see you're in a very pleasant mood this morning!" he replied sarcastically, to which she didn't reply.

"I can't stand this holiday; I don't think I've ever been this bored in my life-"  
"Well at least it's no better at home, not according to Lily's letter anyway."

"Did you ever write back?" Fred asked James.

"No, I don't want her to know we're having just as bad a time!" James laughed.

"That's true." Fred replied, nodding.

They sat and ate in silence for a second, Fred once again thinking of Anna and the drama which seemed to constantly be occupying his mind.

The silence between them continued as the hooting of owls echoed through the hall. Years and years ago they would have looked around excitedly, now they didn't even acknowledge the noise.

They didn't even flinch when an owl landed on James' shoulder. It was an owl they all recognised; she looked almost exactly like her predecessors had; Hedwig III. They weren't bothered in the slightest though; Fred continued to debate how much milk to pour on his cereal.

That was until James spoke. "I'm going to kill them! I'm actually going to… Roxy, you've got to read this."

He wasn't his classic beating-up-boyfriends angry, he looked almost disappointed.

Fred and Dom looked at each other confusedly as Roxy read the letter which James had ripped open, and her mouth fell open.

"I'm going to help you kill them!"

Fred leant over sideways, and tried to read the letter over her shoulder, but she folded it up and placed it on the table.

"Here, Dom, read this." She slid it across the table, further from Fred, and Dom picked it up and Fred was forced to simply watch as her eyes moved across the paper.

"Oh my god!" Dom said, slamming it down.

"What does it-?" Fred began.

"They are so dead." James ignored Fred, continuing to talk as he stabbed his fork into his bacon.

"Why what happ-?"  
"I thought we could trust them!" Roxy moaned.

"Clearly not." Dom mumbled.

"What does it say?" Fred yelled frustratedly; the few pupils in the hall turned to look in his direction.

"Oh, sorry, did you not read it?" James asked, sliding it across the table.

Fred glared at James, who was smirking at him a little, then unfolded the letter.

_Dear James, Roxy, Dom and Fred.  
We're missing you a lot here, kids. You should see the others; Al being the oldest is going to his head!_  
_However, I now understand why you're still at Hogwarts even less; surely coming home would be the best way to get away from certain people at school? Al and Lily have told us about Louisa and Craig (don't be angry at them they thought it might help) and we are, as parents, disappointed that we found out this way. We understand this may be something you don't wish your parents to know, however it would be nice to at least be told that you are no longer in relationships._

_But we do feel incredibly sorry for you both, James and Roxy, and Fred and Dom we are proud that you are such faithful friends to your cousins. _  
_Please reply, we'd like to know that you are ok, as your younger cousins are worried about you. _  
_Your Aunts, Uncles and parents. _  
_xxx_  
_Ps. I'm going to kill Craig, love George. _

"I can't believe Al and Lily would-" Fred began.

"I know!"

"I'm so stupid to think I could trust my little brother." James said sarcastically.

Fred laughed a little, then turned his head to see Roxy chewing the inside of her mouth.

"You alright Rox?" Fred asked his sister.

She nodded absentmindedly, then shook her head. "Er, do you think I should warn Craig that Dad's threatened-?"

"What's he going to do, Rox, seriously?" Dom asked.

"Well I don't know. He could hit him or-"  
"How is he going to get into Hogwarts and beat up the head boy?" Fred said reasonably.

"Well then he could send him a howler or-"

"Rox, if he gets a howler he deserves it." Fred told his sister, and he couldn't help but be a little angry that she even cared about whether Craig was hurt; she was meant to be over him.

"Yeah, I guess."  
"You guess? Rox, the least he deserves is a howler." Dom said, and Fred looked up to see that both James and Dom also looked concerned about Roxy's priorities.

"I'm going to go." Roxanne said as she shuffled uncomfortably under their gaze before getting up and walking from the table.

"You don't think she-"  
"She's not still in love with him." James said, standing up as well. "You'd know. She'd be acting like me."

And then he walked away, Fred and Dom left looking at each other awkwardly.

Fred couldn't decide if he hated or loved that James had realised how he felt about Louisa; he was no longer moping or gazing into the distance, but he now had a knack for bringing up his feelings at awkward moments and then leaving the others to feel uncomfortable. He even started laughing as he walked away, as if he was just doing this for fun.

He really was a pain most of the time.

"So…" Fred said uneasily.

"Yeah." Dom replied, pulling her hair down and then tying it up again, clearly just for something to do. "Think I should check Roxy's alright?"

Fred shrugged, resigned to the fact he was going to finish his breakfast alone, and then watched as Dom left. Purely for something to do, he watched her until she was right at the door, turning down the corridors.

And then there was someone else in the doorway.

"Anna?" he said quietly, knowing that talking to himself wasn't a good thing to do when there were people around.

She didn't move; she was still stood in the doorway looking directly at him, pulling on the sleeves of her jumper.

He knew what she wanted him to do, and since all thoughts of food had been wiped from his mind at the sight of her he dropped his toast back onto his plate and walked in her direction.

As he got closer though, he saw that she didn't look like she used to.

She was wearing baggy clothes; he realised when he was closer that she was wearing his hoody, the one he'd left in the room of requirement months ago and he wondered when she went back to get it. Her hair wasn't even it's normal beautiful messy; it looked unkempt, almost dirty.

And the sparkle from her eyes? When he was close enough it looked like the part of Anna that used to shine didn't even exist.

"Hey." He said to her, not sure what else he could say.

She looked so broken; so unbelievably, irreparably broken.

"We need to talk."

He took some comfort in the fact she didn't sound broken. In fact, she sounded stronger than she had last time he spoke to her. However, the quiver of her lip told him that this was fake; she was just as weak as she looked.

"Yeah, alright. Where?"

And then she started to walk without saying another word, and Fred was just left to follow her, his heart beating faster with every step he took.

He wondered what could be wrong with her; what could be so important that it had practically split them up and taken the Anna he knew away in the process? He started listing ideas in his head, each one getting more ridiculous with every breath he took; she was failing her exams, she was leaving Hogwarts, she was leaving the country, she'd fallen out with her family even more than before, someone in her family was dead, she was dying… He didn't breath again for a moment when he thought that.

He had thought they were heading to the room of requirement, but Anna didn't go up to the third floor. She seemed almost erratic, and walked down a corridor on the second floor with a nod of her head and then opened a door to an unused classroom and walked inside.

He stepped inside and she locked the door behind him before walking to the window of the classroom and shutting the curtains with her wand.

"Anna, what's going on?"

She didn't reply to his quiet beg for information; she continued to cast spells around the room which he assumed made no one else able to hear them; he didn't see the point, no one came in this classroom in school time, never mind in the deserted Easter holidays.

"Anna, you're really beginning to scare me now." He said warily, still quiet.

She turned to look at him, a hopeless glare in her eyes that told him he'd said the wrong thing.

"You're scared?" she replied, much louder than him, a sarcasm in her voice that unnerved him more than anything else. "Oh, y-you're…"

She didn't finish her sentence; the sarcasm had vanished and been replaced with tears, which seemed to fill her up instantly and overflow from her eyes. She fell to her knees with a dull thud, which Fred was sure much have hurt, but she just continued to cry in the same desperate way.

Never in his life had he seen anyone cry like Anna was crying; with each tear he felt as if someone was poking his heart with something very sharp.

Instinctively, he bent to his knees beside her and put his arms around her. Instead of pushing him away like he'd expected, she seemed to topple over and cry onto his lap, his hands falling weakly into her hair.

"Anna." He said quietly. "Anna, just tell me what it is."

"I-I've ruined our life!" she cried, her body still shaking. "I-I mean I've ruined my life. A-and y-yours is never going to be the same and I-"

She fell back into sobs, her tears starting to soak through the denim of Fred's jeans.  
Fred, still helplessly confused, decided to allow her to cry. For almost half an hour, he forced himself to stay silent and just hold her, hoping and praying that she was simply hysterical and nothing was really that bad but unable to ignore the little voice inside him that said Anna didn't get hysterical for no reason.

She eventually pulled herself up, so she was sat up and leaning on the desk behind her.

"I've been so awful to you. And it's not- it's not your fault. It's mine. It's all my fault."

Her twisted, nonsensical sentences, attempted explanations and mumblings were really beginning to wear Fred down; he felt as exhausted as she looked.

Sighing, he looked up into her eyes for the first time all day. They were still Anna-green; she was still Anna. "Please just tell me what's happened? Or what's happening or-"  
"I'm so, so sorry. I should've told you sooner and I…"

She met his gaze, then inhaled and sighed again.

"I think…" her lip quivered again, but she bit it hard and stopped herself crying."I think I'm pregnant."

…

"You all ready to go?"

Her mother was stood in the doorway, smiling at her patiently.

Rose nodded, folded her last top and closed her trunk.

"Yeah I think so." Rose replied, hoping that her mother understood that she wasn't talking about packing.

She was going to Malfoy Manor; the actual mansion where her mother, who now stood in front of her completely whole and happy, had been tortured. As much as she loved Scorpius and wanted to see his house and stay with him and understand him, there wasn't even a little part of her that wanted to go to where so many awful things had happened.

It helped when she didn't call it _Malfoy Manor; _when she just thought of it as Scorpius' house it was far easier to feel comfortable. Well, as comfortable as she could feel about staying at her boyfriend's house. Her father, though, didn't seem to be able to call it anything else; it was as if he was clutching at the final reason to hate Scorpius.

Her Dad had been fine, well as fine as he could be about his daughter going to her boyfriend's house, until he found out where they lived.

"_You still live there?" he had asked across the kitchen table, placing his fork on the table and simply looking at Scorpius. "I thought it got destroyed when the aurors went in?"_

"_Most of it did." Scorpius had nodded, as if he understood Ron's wish for the house to simply be ruins. "But my Dad restored it. He wouldn't let the Malfoy legacy end in disgrace."_

A bitterness had burned through Scorp's voice; a bitterness Rose had heard almost every time he mentioned his Dad. The topic had been changed that evening, but her father kept referring to it. _"Are you all packed up for Malfoy Manor?" "So, Scorpius, is there enough room to practice Quidditch at Malfoy Manor?" "Your mother can apparate you to the road by Malfoy Manor."_

It didn't help Rose one bit.

"You'll be fine, Rose." Her mother told her, placing her arm around Rose's shoulder as she flicked her wand at the trunk.

"Are you sure?" Rose asked quietly as they reached the stairs.

"Of course. You're strong like your Aunt Ginny."  
Rose shook her head. "No Mum, I'm strong like you."

Her mother smiled, and then they walked down the stairs, at the bottom of which Ron was stood with Scorpius.

"I guess this is goodbye then." Her father said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Rose ignored his awkwardness and threw her arms around his neck. "Bye Dad."

"Be careful ok? This week and in Hogwarts and-"

"I will Dad." Rose said quietly, letting go of him. "I can look after myself."  
"I know you can." He nodded, and Rose looked up into his eyes to see he was on the verge of tears.

"Oh Ronald, grow up! It'll be summer in no time!" Rose's mother smiled, and then turned and hugged Scorpius, who looked incredibly awkward and yet happy at the same time. "It's been wonderful to have you, Scorpius."

"Thank you." he replied when her mother released him.

"Yeah, Scorpius, it's been good to meet you." Ron said, sounding rehearsed. He then held his hand out and Scorpius shook it.

"It's been good to meet you too, Mr Weasley. And I'll look after Rose this week, I promise."  
"I should hope so." Ron smiled back.

Rose just watched them both, amazed that they were having a conversation about something other than Quidditch.

"Well then, shall we go?" Hermione asked, holding her arms out for Rose and Scorpius to hold.

Rose nodded, grabbed her trunk and then felt herself being pulled backwards sharply; away from her father and her home and everywhere she felt safe and to…

They landed heavily on an old, country road. Fields surrounded them, large hay bales lining the roads.

"This isn't too far away, is it?" Her mother asked, dusting herself down.

Rose knew they weren't going to arrive straight outside the house; her mother didn't want to see it again, but she did wonder how anyone could hide a mansion in this large, flat expanse of green.

"No. No, my house is just down this road." Scorpius told her, smiling understandingly.

"Good. You're ok to walk on your own aren't you-?" Rose saw that her mother was glancing around, in a more uneasy way than Rose had ever seen.

"Mum, we're fine. You can go home." She said simply, to which Hermione smiled.

"I hope you have a wonderful week!" Her Mum said, and despite the fact she was nervous Rose could tell she was honest. "You can send owls any time."  
"I will do." Rose told her Mum.

Hermione smiled one more time before disappearing.

And then Rose turned to Scorpius and smiled nervously. He wasn't smiling back; he was looking at the place Hermione had been.

"Rose, you don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I know it means a lot to your family and if it's too hard then-"

All she needed to hear was that he understood, and he did; she took his hand from his side which made him look at her.

"I want to be with you." she told him, tilting her head a little. "At your home."

He nodded, his eyes piercing hers, and then sighed. "I've missed you."  
"I've missed you too." She replied; this was the first they'd been alone since her birthday and even then it was a few stolen moments.

They began to walk with their hands still intertwined, a private agreement between the two of them to walk as slowly as possible to just be alone for as long as they could.

Their trunks clattered along the road behind them for half a mile or so, before Scorp stopped walking and sighed, looking straight at a hay bale.

"Er, Scorp?" Rose said quietly, looking in the same direction as him confusedly. This place didn't look any different than any other part of the road; an old half-bitten scarecrow stood at the right and a fence ran along the field until the horizon on the left.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and passed it to her.

_Malfoy Manor, the home of Draco, Astoria and Scorpius, is located on Wood Lane, between the scarecrow and the fence._

"Scorp what-?"

She looked up and came face to face with large iron gates.

"So many people tried to find it after the war that Dad had to cast the _fidelus_ charm over the whole place." Scorpius explained, before stepping forward through the gates as if they weren't there.

Rose just shook her head, more daunted than she'd ever been, and followed Scorpius through the gates without feeling a thing.

Malfoy Manor was nothing like she'd imagined; she'd imagined it to be dark and depressing, falling apart in places and making her feel unwelcome.

It wasn't and it didn't.

The large gardens on either side of the path were the perfect green; large apple trees hung over perfectly pruned hedges and the rippling of water echoed around from a fountain that looked large enough to swim in; she found herself wishing to drop her trunk and dive in as the sun reflected off it.

"This is… this isn't what I expected." She murmured as they walked for almost as long as they had walked down the country road; Rose was sure these gardens were bigger than the Hogwarts grounds.

The manor itself towered ahead of them, somehow casting no shadows onto the grass below. Wide, white and ornately decorated, Rose thought of the white house that the muggle President lived in in America, only a fair bit smaller.

Three steps stood in front of the large front door, which Rose dragged her trunk up.

And then Scorpius opened the door without a key, and revealed a corridor with a marble staircase ahead, black doors lining the walkway towards it. The walls were white, the floor was checkerboard black and white; it was all very clean and perfect, the opposite to Rose's house which was cluttered and covered with pictures of the family.

"Just, er, leave your stuff here." Scorpius placed his trunk on the floor by the door, making sure to line it up with the wall, before walking further into the corridor. "Mum?" he shouted, his voice echoing down the corridor. Rose placed her trunk by his and followed him, looking at the doors as she did so.

None of them were labelled, and they alternated perfectly. One on the left, one on the right, one on the left, one on the… She looked to the second door on the right and stopped walking for a moment.

This door wasn't like the others; it wasn't new and clean like the others. Cobwebs didn't hang over the other doors; the handles of the other doors didn't have years of dust piled on them.

"Scorp why-?" she tilted her head. Something about this door made her feel uncomfortable; it didn't fit with the rest of the place. This was the first part of the house that had felt at all lived in, but it felt like something had both lived and died there.

"Don't." Scorpius said, and Rose turned to see him at her side. "Just don't go through there; I never have."

"You've _never-_"  
"We'll try the kitchen." He said, as if ignoring her, before walking through the second door on the left.

The kitchen was just the same; it looked barely touched. Large, black and white with kitchen counters gleaming unnaturally under the light leaking through the large glass doors; it was as if no one had ever actually cooked in here.

Scorpius didn't look unnerved by the cleanliness, which told Rose it was always like this. How could anyone live in this, she wondered? She was scared of breathing out in case it made the air dirty.

He walked to the glass table by the doors and Rose followed hesitantly. She felt as though she didn't want to be left alone here; each footstep echoed too much.

Scorp swept a piece of paper up, which had lain perfectly in the middle of the table.

"I knew it." He said quietly, before pulling out a chair and sinking into it. He suddenly looked like Scorpius again, although Rose hadn't realised he'd been anyone else until that moment. He didn't look as uneasy or as… proper. He didn't sit as straight as he had walked and he no longer glanced around. "I knew they wouldn't be here."

"Who?" Rose said quietly, before it dawned on her who he'd been talking about.

His parents.

Other people were supposed to live in this house; people were supposed to have greeted them at the door or replied to Scorpius' shouts down the corridor.

He just passed her the paper before putting his head in his hands.

_Scorpius,  
Your Mother and I have decided to visit Italy this week.  
We will return on Wednesday, and will stay until you return to school on Sunday. After leaving Rose Weasley and yourself at the station we will visit France.  
Please be careful around the house while we are away.  
Your father._

"I was stupid to think they'd be here; why would they? They never normally are."

She pulled a chair out from next to him, sitting down quietly.

"They're _never_ here?" she repeated, shaking her head. "Why haven't you told me that before?"

He sighed. "My family aren't like yours, Rose. I spend most summers here on my own, it's nothing new."  
"Why didn't you tell us? Me and Al; you could've stayed with us."

He shook his head, quieter than Rose had ever seen him before.

"It's fine Rose."  
"No, it's not. You shouldn't have had to be alone all those years."  
She felt guilty; horribly, heartbreakingly guilty. All those years where they'd asked about Scorp's summer and he'd said vague things like "_it's what I get for being an only child_" or "_It's good to be back at Hogwarts_" and they'd never known.

"I'm used to it." He bit his lip; Rose thought he looked a lot younger than he ever had before. "I just thought they might be home to meet you. Or care that you're here."

Rose nodded, and then placed her hands around his, which were balled up on his knees.

"At least you're not alone this week."

He shook his head. "No, you can go home if you want. You came to meet my parents and they're not here so-"  
"I came to be with you. To see where you grew up; to understand. I'm not going anywhere."

He looked up, and then she pressed her lips to his, unsure of how else to cheer him up.

It had been a week, only a week, since they had last kissed properly, and yet it felt like ages; it felt like they had grown so much in the last week; Rose even felt like she'd grown in just the last few minutes.

Her hands ran through his hair, as his snaked around her neck and pulled her towards him. She ended up sitting on his knee as their tongues reunited.

"I love you." she sighed when she eventually parted from him to breathe.

"I love you too, Rose, you know that." He told her, his hands still resting on her hips. "I'm sorry about my parents though, and about this place and-"  
"Wait." She interrupted him by putting her finger to his mouth. "We have this house to ourselves for four days?"

He nodded, looking around the kitchen. "Yeah, but it's nothing special-"  
"Show me around!" she interrupted, hopping off his knee and pulling him up.

He did as she commanded; he showed her everything Malfoy Manor had to offer. If Rose thought her house was big, it was truly nothing compared to this. She could place three of her house side by side and it would still be bigger. It was all decorated similarly; black, white, clean, perfect… There wasn't one picture on the wall, but Rose was too awed by the rooms to notice the décor. The living room had a television the size of a car across the wall; Rose was pretty sure that the Malfoys would never even use it. The size of the dining room table made her think of the Great Hall, and when she truly got close she decided she could live in their fridge. Each bathroom – two on the first floor and four upstairs – was fitted with a bath like a swimming pool, but made obsolete by the actual swimming pool around the back of the house. Upstairs, even the spare bedroom that Rose was going to sleep in was at least double her parent's room in size, wardrobes covered the wall and a door led into her own bathroom. She looked at the other spare rooms; Scorpius claimed they weren't as nice but she could hardly tell the difference; they were all colourless and lifeless, none of them stood out.

That was until Scorpius' room.

Scorpius' room wasn't like the rest of the house.

It was at the other side of the staircase to Rose's; the door was just as black and normal as the rest of them, but inside was the first place that truly felt like a home, and not just a hotel. It appeared a little smaller than the room she was sleeping in, but that was because, unlike the other white walls, Scorpius' room was yellow; the same as the yellow on the Gryffindor logo. The bed covers were red, posters of Quidditch players hung lopsidedly and letters from Al and Rose were stuck above his bed.

Scorpius' room was her favourite out of the whole house; she'd happily spend the rest of the four days simply sitting here, but she realised that would be a weird request.

After the tour of the house, they headed downstairs and sat in the kitchen, chatting about all the things they could do with the next few days.

That was the best part about Malfoy Manor at the moment; how free they were. They could walk around and hold hands, or Scorpius' hands could rest on her waist when he showed her things out of the window, without any parents' eyes analysing them or best friends whining; they were totally and completely alone.

"Are you hungry, anyway? It's getting late so-"

Rose nodded, before a thought appeared in her head. "Scorp, what are we going to eat for the next few days?"  
"I'll cook." He said, standing up from the table and walking towards the fridge.

"You can cook?" she asked, following him.

She'd learnt more about Scorpius in the last few hours than she had in the last six years; she learnt about his family, that he kept every letter she or Al had sent to him, that he personally chose every book that lined the walls in the library, that he actually liked to watch muggle movies… and that he could cook.

"Yeah, you're kind of forced to learn once you run out of food."

Rose laughed, and just stood and watched him.

She couldn't imagine him alone in this house; she couldn't imagine him not smiling as he moved around the kitchen or sitting with only the large empty house to keep him company, but she knew it happened.

It didn't take long for Scorpius to produce food that Rose thought was more than edible; it was perfect.

When they'd both cleared their plates, they went into the living room, but Rose couldn't help but notice the door they walked past.

When they were sat down on the stiff sofas, Rose decided to voice her questions.

"Scorp, what's through that door?"

He nodded, as if he'd been waiting for her to ask, and then simply replied "The drawing room."

Then she understood. She understood why the house was so clean and perfect and lifeless; to rid it of all it's history, of all the memories. "Then why would your Dad restore everywhere else but not-?"  
"I asked him once, and he said it was there to remind him that 'Power doesn't matter; all that matters is knowing the difference between right and wrong'."

Rose nodded, then sighed. "So it's just there to remind him of what happened; so he doesn't forget or get ahead of himself?"  
"Yeah, I think so. It's there to ground him, so he never forgets."

"Scorp, have you really never been in?"  
He shook his head. "I'd never want to. I just don't think it'll do any good to open that door again."

"That makes sense." Rose nodded, agreeing in her mind that as much as it fascinated her, she would never want to go to the exact site where so many people had died or been tortured or-

"Rose, I can't believe you're here."

She couldn't believe it either; it still hadn't truly hit her that she was sat in Malfoy Manor.

It didn't, in fact, dawn on her until later that night when she was curled up under the white sheets of her bed.

Every time she closed her eyes she could swear she heard screaming echoing through the halls; wailing, slithering, high pitched laughter, curses…

It was all in her head, she told herself, but that didn't stop the tears from leaking through her eyes.

He seemed to know. He almost seemed to expect it, and he opened the door to her room softly and held her until the tears stopped.

"I'm sorry for bringing you here." He whispered into her hair when she'd pulled herself together.

"I want to be here, Scorp. I just… the dark seems scarier here."  
"I know what you mean." His hands slid from around her and he climbed back off her bed.

"Scorp, can you stay? Just until I'm asleep?"

He nodded, and climbed back above the covers.

And this time when she closed her eyes she didn't hear any screams; she heard Scorp's breathing. That was easy to sleep to.


	55. New Perspective

Good evening to you all. How is everyone?

So, I'm incredibly tired right now, so this'll be a short A/N.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, favourite etc. 207 alerts? Yeah, thanks for that one. :D Anonymous reviewers: _roselambie _and_Raphaelle_-Thanks!

This chapter is a little bit of a filler; I promise the next one's good. I swear.

Sorry it's been a while since I updated; don't expect another chapter for a few days, my life's a little hectic these days.

_**Disclaimer: **__I went to Hogwarts on 1st of September, but Harry Potter still isn't real and isn't mine.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Five- New Perspective)**

Prefect duty was normally boring. In the Easter holidays, however, it was far, far worse.

Roxy had been sat on the same stone bench in the corridor for over two hours, almost becoming excited when someone walked past and she asked "Where are you going please?" in the same monotonous voice.

She sat and listened to the castle creaking; she could hear third year voices from around the corridors, echoing as they left the great hall and went to their common room then out to the courtyard… Even they sounded bored though, and they weren't alone.

She didn't even look up when she heard footsteps down the hall. "Where are you going please?" she asked, her eyes almost glazed over as she counted the stitches on her shoes.

"To the girls' bathrooms." Replied a low voice.

She nodded boredly before registering that something wasn't quite right about…

She looked up to see Jamie Wrenshaw stood in front of her, smirking with his arms crossed.

"Just checking you were paying attention." He laughed as Roxy smiled to herself.

Roxy and Jamie used to be close friends; from first year when they'd met in the library on the first night, they used to spend most of their spare time together regardless of the fact he was a Ravenclaw. James and Fred used to tease Roxy about him, saying first year was some sort of record to have a boyfriend, then in second year they constantly quizzed him on whether he liked her and vice versa. And even though Roxy repetitively denied it, she realised in third year that she did like him. And she waited all of third year for him to realise, but began to give up by fourth. Then Craig asked her out, and she and Jamie drifted apart; they hadn't spoken at all in seventh year, and only once or twice last year on prefect duty. It wasn't a big dramatic fall out, it was just two people drifting apart as they grew up; Roxy despised that it had happened.

So she smiled when Jamie spoke to her, and then stood up from the bench happily.

He was still taller than her; he was taller than even James and Fred. But he was muscly since he was the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain. His hair was the same dirty blonde, hanging over his blue eyes a little.

"Hey, not spoken to you in a while." She said simply, smiling.

"Yeah, well I've been busy and you've been busy and… but these holidays are so bloody boring that I thought I'd come and find you."  
"Seriously? You've been looking for me?" Roxy smiled again, thinking how little he'd changed since three years ago, but at the same time how much she had.

"Yeah, figured we might need a catch up. Nothing big, just… Hi?"

"Hi." She nodded, sitting down again and budging up so he could sit next to her. "How've you been?"  
"Good." He nodded. "You?"  
She thought about it; in all honestly despite the boredom she was happier now than she remembered being. "I'm good too."

"Good." He smiled, before asking about her family; the annoying brother, the Quidditch enemy cousin…

Then, as it always used to, their conversation flowed seamlessly to his family. She'd met his parents once at the train station and although they'd been excited to meet a Weasley they'd been perfectly lovely.

Unlike Craig's parents though, they weren't perfect. In fact, Roxy realised as Jamie spoke; unlike Craig, Jamie wasn't perfect.

Despite his toned body, Roxy knew of a scar that ran up his entire leg from crashing his broom. Although his eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, there was a tiny brown smudge in the iris of his left eye. He was the brainiest boy in the year, but he had a short attention span and was too competitive for his own good. He had allowed their friendship to fall apart; he hadn't realised she liked him…

He wasn't perfect. Roxy found herself liking that about him.

"God, you know, I thought it would be so awkward to talk to you again but-"  
"It's not." Roxy completed his sentence, both of them looking at each other.

Then he looked away, coughing fakely, and Roxy sighed.

"I better be going." He said simply, standing up.

"Why, where've you got to go?" she challenged a little jokily.

He didn't reply, just started to walk away. Roxy started to feel angry; she wanted to yell him back and ask him what he'd been doing talking to her if he was just going to leave again.

"I heard about Craig." His voice echoed down the corridor from where he'd stopped and turned.

She stood up slowly. "What?" She asked as she walked towards him.

He shuffled on his feet as Roxy felt her eyes narrowing at him. "I, er, I know what he did with Louisa-"  
"How?"

He bit his lip, then sighed again. "All of us know."  
"A-all of you? All of _who_?"

"All the seventh years. All of Ravenclaw… All of the school." He looked guiltily at her, as if he was asking for forgiveness.

"You all know? How?"

"It's common knowledge really-"  
"Then why hasn't anyone mentioned it to me?"  
"Kindness, I guess." He shrugged.

"Then why are you mentioning it now?"

He gulped then said quietly, "Because if I'd told you what I was thinking three years ago, I'd be able to say _'I told you so'_ now."

Then he started to walk away again, but Roxy grabbed his coat.  
"What do you mean by tha-?"

Other footsteps echoed down the corridor, and then in a flash of ginger Fred ran by her.

She knew instantly what had happened to him, so let Jamie go and sighed. "I have to go-"  
"Roxy, I am sorry."  
"I'll talk to you later." She said meaningfully, so he knew she wasn't letting what he'd just said go, before she chased after her brother.

As she ran, she tried to work it out. Did that mean he liked her? That he used to like her? Or did it just mean that he knew Craig would hurt her; that he wished he'd warned her?

She stopped thinking of herself now though, as she ran through the common room and up the stairs to the boys' dorm.

He'd already done some damage; the curtains were ripped off his bed and lying in a heap on the floor; the lid of his trunk was open and his belongings were scattered. At the sound of the door, he turned and faced her, his eyes wide.

"You knew. I mean, you _know_."

His eyes seemed to be flickering between emotions; anger, shock, sadness and complete helplessness.

After a few moments of silence, he settled on the last emotion and sat on the end of his bed.

"What am I meant to do?"  
"Well what _did _you do?" she asked back, sitting on the bed.

He looked up at her incredulously. "Roxy, please say you're not asking me _how _she got pregnant-"

His attempt at a joke failed, and Roxy just sighed. "You know what I mean. What did you say to her, what's she doing?"  
"I left."  
"What?"

"I walked away."

Roxy raised her eyebrows; leaving erratically seemed like James behaviour; not Fred.

Secretly, Roxy had always been proud of her brother for how he treated girls, or more importantly treated Anna. From the moment she'd found out Anna was pregnant, she'd secretly thought that Fred would handle it better than Anna gave him credit for; Anna knew him better though, it seemed.

"You walked away?"  
"I couldn't handle it!" he replied desperately.

"Oh, because that makes it okay!" Roxy said sarcastically. Try as she might, though, she couldn't be angry at him; not after the news he'd just gotten, not with the look in his eyes that he only got when he was truly broken. "But I guess you can talk to her later; go find her and apologise."

"Yeah, I will. Eventually… When I know what to say to her." He sighed again, turning his head to look at the wall as he wrung his hands. "Rox, what am I meant to say to her?"

To this, she couldn't reply instantly. She bit her lip as she tried to think of something suitable, what she would want him to say to her if she was pregnant. Her mind then sidetracked itself with disgusting ideas of it being her that was pregnant with her brother's child, and she was busy telling herself off for those thoughts when Fred stood up.

"She must have known for ages!" he exclaimed while Roxy looked up at him confusedly.

"What?" she asked.

"Well we haven't, you know, since… since-" Fred's face was scrunched up, as if he'd realised his sister was the person he was talking to.  
"Since the day the rules were taken away." Roxy completed his sentence for him, and he just looked at her suprisedly before sitting again. "That's why she thinks she's pregnant; because she wasn't, er, protected then because the rules meant you couldn't , er… This is hard to discuss-"  
"Yeah, but Rox I need you to. Why wouldn't she just say that we couldn't do it that night-"  
"Because she didn't want to! I mean, she wanted to; she's a responsible girl, but… She told me she just got carried away."

"Well then why didn't she tell me afterwards?"  
"She didn't want to worry you over nothing…"  
He laughed a little under his breath. "This isn't 'nothing'."

"I-I know, Fred. But it's going to be alright-"  
"How?" he stood up again, kicking his books across the floor as he did so. "How is this ever going to be alright? I have a… I could be a… Look, Rox I can't be a Dad! I-I'm seventeen and I… I need a job! I need more money! What are Mum and Dad going to say when I leave school and I… I don't even want kids-"  
"Fred, you don't have a choice!"

"Oh great, Rox, I'm glad you're here; you could've made me lose all hope or something!"

Roxanne sighed as Fred stopped walking back and forth.  
"Sorry." She mumbled. "I am sorry, Fred, for all of this-"  
"Why? This isn't your fault, it's mine. Or it's ours… I don't know."  
Roxy nodded, just watching as her brother worked himself up again and began ranting about baby names and what to say to Anna's family…

Suddenly the Jamie drama from earlier seemed like nothing.

…

James loved his broomstick; it was the one thing in the world that he felt he'd earnt, that he deserved; it had been a present for his good OWL results from his parents.

So after placing his broomstick carefully in the cupboard, in the corner where only his and Al's brooms lay, he walked back down the corridors happily after a nice session of flying around carelessly.

The corridors were not, however, as deserted as normal.

Jamie Wrenshaw, Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, was walking the other way.

"How's practice going, Potter?" Jamie asked, a little jokingly and a little seriously.

"Better than yours." James replied quickly, carrying on walking and feeling happy about his swift comeback, since he'd stopped socialising for so long.

He turned up the stairs and looked up to see that every single other staircase was empty; it was a little unnerving, really.

"James!"

That wasn't Jamie's voice again.

That voice was a girl's.

A voice that James assumed he was hallucinating, because he spent most of his time thinking about her.  
"James?" A hand caught his jeans and he turned at the top of the stairs to see Louisa below him.

"Lou." He said simply, not sure what else to say.

He'd not seen her since the confrontation in the Head's dorms; partially because he was busy and partially because he was avoiding her at all costs.

Because he knew that when he looked into her eyes, the love he felt for her would completely kill the anger he wanted to feel.

"James." She said again. He thought he could listen to her say his name forever.

He had to make himself realise, however, that he couldn't; he couldn't listen to her saying his name. She'd probably said Craig's name.

"What do you want?" he asked, angry with his own thoughts.

She looked shocked by his harshness and sighed. "I just… I…" she sighed, and shook her head. "I saw you and I wanted to speak to you. I wanted to tell you I'm sorry again; part of me's hoping if I apologise enough I'll stop hating myself."

Her honesty annoyed him, more than it made him feel sorry for her. She _should_ hate herself.

He looked down at her, into her eyes, to see that tears had blurred them.

"You really hate me don't you?" she said sadly, her voice cracking a little.

He shook his head. "I don't hate you," _I love you_ he thought. "I just can't be around you without wanting to cry or hex someone or punch something."

"Oh."

"But I don't think that's hate. I think that's hurt."

He started to walk away, having ran out of the time he could be alone with her without wanting to just hug her and tell her everything would be ok.

"I think that's worse; I'd rather you hate me than know I hurt you."

"Sometimes, Lou, I really wish I hated you. It'd be so much easier."

His thoughts spilled out of his mouth as he walked away; he wasn't sure if she heard him or not but he carried on regardless, up into his dorm where he could tell Fred everything that had just happened with Lou…

When he arrived in his dorm though, he realised that Louisa wasn't about to be Fred's priority.

He was sat on his bed, Roxy next to him with her arm around him, in a dorm that looked trashed.

Dom was stood by the door, looking in Fred's direction with a shocked expression on her face.

"Great, more people are joining the party." Fred said sarcastically, biting his nails.

"Mate, what's up?"  
"Anna. In the _'knocked up'_ sense."

James wasn't sure how, but he ended up sat on the bed.

He thought his problems were bad.

"Are you sure?" Dom said quietly, sitting next to James.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why would she tell me if not-"  
"She's actually not." Roxy said from Fred's side.  
"Eh?"  
"Well, er, that's why I'm surprised she told you. She doesn't find out until Saturday-"  
"You mean she might not be?" James asked.

"You mean I might be worrying over nothing?"  
"Don't get your hopes up; Anna doesn't panic over things unless it's worth worrying over."

"So she is." Fred leant back, his head bouncing on the mattress a little as he landed on his back. "She is having my child."

Silence fell over all four of them; James thinking that, for once, his problems truly weren't the biggest in the room.


	56. Inevitable

Hey everyone. Due to personal issues, I've not got around to writing very much. Hense the two (or is it three) week gap between updates. I'd love to say it won't happen again but I can't guarantee anything because everything's very unpredictable for now.

But, thankyou as always for all the reviews. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit gutted about how many I got; I normally get so many more! But, beggars can't be choosers, can they? Anonymous reviewers; _dmjones42_ (thanks, sorry for how long it took to update please keep reading), _Lulip _(Thanks for reading all, bet it took you forever! Thanks for the long review and I loved your opinions on everyone!), _Squid7000 _(Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like Jamie), _rednose _(Well, Fred's unpredictable. Thanks for the review!) and _AMG _(Glad you liked it, thanks for the review).

So yes, to make up for my lack of updates, I have given you an extra-long, extra amazing chapter. Hope you love it. You should do!

_**Disclaimer: **__It's fifty days until the new Harry Potter film! But I don't own them, or HP. Sad, sad times.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Six- Inevitable)**

Louis, stood in a queue for a muggle shop, could hear girls giggling behind him.

"He's the one!" he heard. "He's that really hot one who was here yesterday! And he's got a really hot friend outside as well!"

Louis smiled to himself; whoever said he only got girls for his surname was wrong. He got them for his looks, and he was fine by that.

After paying for the muggle chocolate bars he and Jake had decided to test today, admittedly difficultly with muggle money, he turned and winked at the girls on his way out. They giggled stupidly as the bell rang behind him when the door closed.

Jake was stood outside, leaning against the wall and looking impatient.

"What took you so long?"  
"The queue!" Louis replied sarcastically, handing over the chocolate before turning around and looking through the window.

"Oh, now I see why I've been out here alone for so long!" Jake joked, standing next to him and looking through the window.

"They are seriously hot." Louis said simply, watching as they laughed about something as they paid. "We should talk to them."  
"We? I'm dating your cousin!"

"Yeah, I know, but there are four of them and one of me. I'm so outnumbered; all you have to do is talk to them!"  
"No, Louis, come on can't we just go home! Lily said she might be able to come over this afternoon so-"

Louis couldn't help his reactions; he groaned and shook his head.

Before it was a little annoying but he could handle Lily and Jake together; they were both very happy together and he was happy _for_ them. But this holiday, that tolerance had completely died. He hated the fact his best friend was so totally obsessed with his cousin; it was all he ever talked about, almost. And as much as Jake was his best mate, Louis was sure that if he chose Lily over him again Louis would be forced a throw a gnome at him.

"Come on mate, what happened to friends before girlfriends?"

"Nothing happened to it! I just haven't seen Lily for ages-"  
"You saw her on Monday." Louis told him, frustrated.

He started to walk away, no longer caring about the girls and just really wanting to get away from Jake.

He hated this; he felt like he was being selfish but he knew he was in the right. His best friend shouldn't ditch him for his girlfriend, whether he was related to them or not.

"Louis, stop storming off." Jake whined, walking behind him.

Louis didn't stop, though; he walked all the way down the old muggle street until he came to the park, where the swings were falling from the metal bars and the slide was rusting.

"Louis, what's wrong with you?" Jake asked tiredly when he'd caught up.

"If I asked you to choose between me and Lily who would you choose?" Louis replied automatically.

"Why would you ask that?"  
"Who would you choose?"  
Jake shook his head. "Lily."  
"Wrong answer." Louis said loudly, kicking at the nearby bench. "I stick by you through everything and now you're leaving me behind for some girl-"  
"She's not just some girl, she's your cousin. And you don't care anyway, you're too busy with all your girls-"  
"You're my best friend! If someone made me choose between you and every girl in the world you would win. Because friendship's more important than any stupid girl-"  
"Lily's not just some stupid girl though, is she? I care about her so much, Louis, she's not just like your girlfriends. This means something."

"I'd still choose you." Louis sat down on the bench which he had just kicked.

This had been building for so long; this frustration at Jake and Lily and them being together and Louis being forced to cover for them. Louis kept wondering if Jake had actually come to Louis' to spend time with him or to be closer to Lily.

"Look, I don't get this, mate. Have you got some problem with me and Lily now?"  
Louis rubbed his head. Did he have a problem with Jake and Lily? Would it make a difference if he did?

Or, in truth, was he just annoyed that Jake had more people in his life than just Louis now? That Louis was almost left behind while Jake suddenly seemed far more grown up.

"No. No, I don't have a problem with you and Lily, honestly I don't."

"Then what's this about?"  
"I'm your best friend."  
"You've said that about four times today."  
"Yeah, to remind you. You're making everything change, Jake. We're meant to be stupid and run around after girls and come back home too late and get into trouble; not sit at home and wait for your girlfriend to write back!"

Jake nodded, as if he suddenly understood.

"Yeah, do you get it now?" Louis asked simply, to which Jake nodded.

"I'm sorry, mate. I'm just so happy with her-"  
Louis stood up. "She's my cousin. I don't need to hear it."

Jake laughed, then both boys stood awkwardly facing each other.

"Quidditch?" Louis suggested.

Jake nodded. "Race you back to the house."  
"Because that's not childish at all." Louis replied before running back down the road, his best friend trailing behind him.

…

Lying in bed, Rose thought about today. Today had not been a good day.

Today, the Malfoys had returned to Malfoy Manor.

If there was a perfect way that Rose could meet Scorpius' parents, today had been the exact opposite of it. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong, had.

It started in the morning; she had been asleep until the moment they had arrived, when Scorp had run inside and woken her up urgently. Therefore, she'd had to drag herself up and get dressed in minutes; she looked completely unacceptable next to the Malfoys. There Scorpius was in his shirt and jeans, his father in a suit and his mother in a fitted black and white dress, and Rose had pulled out a blue dress that stood out horribly against the monochrome backdrop of the house.

Despite her attire, however, she had been at the bottom of the stairs in time to meet the Malfoys; Draco was exactly as she'd expected; he said nothing, simply held his hand out to be shook and glanced at her red hair once too often. Rose hadn't known what to expect from Astoria, but she was exactly the same; she nodded her head curtly and then walked past them.

And now, lying here ten hours after they'd first met, her first impressions had not been modified. They were exactly as they appeared, it seemed; exactly as their house warned her they'd be; cold, quiet, arranged… Rose wondered how Scorpius didn't go crazy in the silence of it all. Having said that, though, Scorpius was no louder than his parents when they were around. He was as expressionless, as unreadable; as if he was rehearsed in pretending to be completely numb. At the dinner table only hours ago, Rose had kept glancing at him hopefully for signs of hope or even happiness, but he didn't look at her. He didn't seem to look anywhere, just blink in the general direction of whoever was speaking.

Dinner with the Malfoys was not what Rose was used to. Rose was used to chaos; people would have loud, interruptive conversation over the sound of scraping knives and forks. At the Malfoys, the only constant noise was the whispering candles, the only voices were from those who were asked questions when the quiet became unbearable; "_How was Italy, Mum?", "How's school going?", "The rest of the Potters and Weasleys are well, I trust?..._

The worst part of the evening, however, came only moments ago, when Scorpius had said goodnight to her at her door, and Rose realised she would have to be alone as she slept, when every other night she'd had Scorp to hold her.

If Rose thought she hated the atmosphere of Malfoy manor before, she couldn't compare it to now. Now, here, she felt like she could barely breathe. It was as if Mr Malfoy had brought his memories home with him; his presence reminded them once again of everything that had happened here. She found herself running past the locked door, even speed-walking through the lonely corridors.

She could swear she heard voices; voices she was sure she was making up. She couldn't _really_ hear anyone plotting murders, her Mum wasn't really screaming, there was no high pitched laughter or her father's desperate adolescent screams. Or were there? Maybe the house truly was echoing, maybe this was worse than a ghost; maybe these were memories that wouldn't move on and they weren't in her head.

She felt tears burning through her eyes as she thought this; as she wondered whether the room under her was locked because ghosts screamed there, unable to let go. Cold spread through her body even though she pulled the thick sheets over her shoulders; she began shaking and covering her eyes, as if somehow these imaginary ghosts would see her cry…

The door to the room opened.

And although worries of ghosts and spirits and murders and screams filled her head she wasn't scared. She wasn't scared because part of her had known he wouldn't let her be alone.

Scorpius turned and locked the door, flicking his wand and casting the _muffilato_ charm over it as he did so.

"I didn't like the idea of you in here on your own." He said quietly, walking towards her. "Sorry."

She shook her head, sitting up in her bed. "Don't be sorry. I didn't want to be on my own."

He didn't seem to hear her; he just sat on the end of her bed and stared at the wall opposite him. "I'm so sorry about today. My family, I-"  
"Scorp, you don't need to be sorry."  
"Yes, I do. I didn't know they'd make it that bad, if I had I would never have brought you here-"  
"Scorp, it's ok-"  
"No, it's not!" he stood up, looking angry and sad and a mixture of everything in-between. "It's not, Rose. Your family is- No, you are perfect. And then there's me; and everything is wrong here. My family are so messed up; I live in a house where God knows how many people were murdered and... It's not ok, Rose. It's not good enough for you."  
She stood up, taking his hands from where he'd pressed them to his forehead.

"Scorp, you're wrong. I don't care what your family's like, or where you live or… or how many people died here-" he opened his mouth to protest, but she shook her head. "I only care about you." He shook his head tiredly, as if he didn't believe her or want to. "I love you."  
"I love you too, Rose, but-"  
"No _'but'_s; I love you." She repeated, almost hopelessly.

He nodded, closing and opening his eyes like you do when you're just waking up.

"Ok." He said simply. "But I'm still not leaving until you're asleep."

"I wouldn't want you to."

She climbed back into her bed, and looked up at Scorpius as he watched her. She knew what he was planning on doing; sleeping on top of the covers with his arms over her until she fell asleep, and then he'd sneak back into his room, as if he'd never been there.

Tonight, though, that didn't seem enough for her; she didn't want to wake up without him next to her tomorrow.

"Come here." She told him, keeping the covers back for him. "Just stay tonight. Don't go."

He shook his head, "No, that's not fair to you-"  
"How isn't it? I want you to."

"Well I can't because my Dad might-"  
"The door's locked. And you'd get in more trouble for sneaking back than you would if you just stayed." She said reasonably.

She knew she wasn't really trying to persuade him; she knew he really wanted to stay but he was trying to be sensible or responsible or honourable… He wanted to stay, and she knew that for sure.

He nodded, then climbed onto the bed behind her and pulled the covers over them.

Then he flicked his wand to turn off the lights, before dropping it onto the bedside table beside hers.

"Night, Rose." He whispered, leaning over and kissing her cheek in the dark.

"Night, Scorp." She whispered back, feeling his arms snake around her waist tightly and his breath on the back of her neck.

And then she couldn't sleep. She started to think how alive they were, in this house that was so dead and cold. She thought about how in love they were, in a place that had only ever seen hate or unhappiness.

Suddenly she didn't want to sleep.

She turned around, pressing her lips to Scorpius' confused expression.

"You alright?" he asked her, smiling a little more than he had been before.

"I am when you're next to me."

"I'm not going anywhere."  
"Good." She smiled, before kissing him again.

"Rose, what are you doing?" he asked her, his eyes looking at her questioningly.

She didn't reply; just kissed him again and leant over him a little more.

He seemed to realise then, if he hadn't known before. "Not here, Rose. There's too much that's happened here-"  
"Scorp, don't you think it's time we replaced all those bad memories with some good ones?"

He seemed to consider this, glancing over her as if checking that she wasn't sleep-talking or that he wasn't dreaming. "No, Rose it's not fair because you're not thinking straight-"  
"I'm thinking perfectly straight, Scorp." She reasoned, and he furrowed his brow as if trying to think of another excuse. "Scorp, just stop trying to look after me and being honourable or sensible around me. Just be with me."

"Are you sure?"  
She nodded, thinking that she couldn't imagine a more perfect moment.

The perfect end to an awful day; Rose and Scorpius proving to Malfoy Manor just how alive, happy and in love they really were.


	57. Realising What You Know

This is far better, in my opinion; it hasn't been weeks. In fact, it'll only be a few days until you get another chapter because I think (Please don't take my word for it) but I think I'm back. :D

So, I wanted to say thank you for sticking with me, all the reviewers I still have. And a big thank you to all the new reviewers or readers; I bet this takes ages to read by now!  
Anyway, thanks to anonymous reviewers for the last chapter: _rednose_ (Glad you liked it, and I'm glad you understand Louis' behaviour), _Squid7000_ (I know you're not anonymous but I can't reply to you through PMs so thankyou for the review. I'm glad you liked the title and I'm glad you liked the Malfoys. :D ) and _Rose _(Nice name. :L And ah, I'm glad you liked it. :D). I've replied to the rest of you, hopefully. :D

This chapter was written when I was completely exhausted; it's definitely not one of my best but trust me, guys, it's picking back up I swear. :L  
Lily/Jake fans… Prepare.

Thanks again, keep reading and reviewing for me guys. Oh, and favouriting and alerting and… yeah. :D Stick with me.

_**Disclaimer: **__Keeping it simple; Harry Potter isn't mine.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Seven- Realising What You Know)**

Harry Potter's life used to be complicated; he had the darkest wizard of all time to kill.

Now, in theory, almost 25 years later, his life should have become far simpler; no dark lord equals no problems, right?

Wrong.

He found that he still had problems, issues, things to do… His life was in no way simple.

Until only a year ago, he had a job which demanded his attention almost every hour of the day and, in theory, without the job he had more free time. Wrong.

Being a retired auror meant he regularly had to give talks about the law enforcement in the wizarding world, get frequent frantic calls from the new head auror (incidentally his best friend) and, to top it off, it meant his wife forced the housework upon him, since he no longer had a job.

Then there was the matter of his family, his two-boys,-one-girl-and-a-wife family. Whilst it was ideal, it wasn't easy.

The fact that he was Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One in itself kept him busy through much of his time. Annual memorial services, speeches at ministry balls and replying to letters of gratitude that continued to find their way to his door; constantly being interviewed by authors who were writing books on the wars that took place… All that, alone, was work; never mind everything else he had to do.

"I wouldn't like to be Ron right now." Harry said to himself as he stirred his tea.

Ginny shrugged from his side, where she sat reading the Daily Prophet. "Why not? He's only got Hugo now, not two of them-"

"Yeah, because the other one's at her boyfriend's house. They could be doing anything, and Ron has no idea. Thank god I'm not in that situation." Ginny put her paper down, and raised her eyebrows.  
"You're kidding, right?" Harry shook his head, about to speak before Ginny beat him to it. "You are in that situation. Twice; you have an eighteen and a seventeen year old son, and if you really think they're completely innocent then-"

"Why wouldn't they be?" Harry challenged.

"Well, what were you doing at eighteen?"  
"Er, well the war had just ended so-"  
"You're not a fair example; they're teenage boys, Harry."  
"You seriously think that they're-"  
"I think James has. I mean, Louisa slept with someone else, didn't she? So I assume she also slept with James."

Harry wriggled in his chair; this conversation was beginning to make him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"As for Al; well, I don't know. He's only just legal and Madeline isn't, is she?"

Harry shrugged, standing up and making for the door to escape the uncomfortable conversation. Unfortunately for him, his plan didn't go so well; Ginny caught his arm and stopped him moving.

"Doesn't it worry you?"  
"Yes, it worries me, but we can't do anything, can we?" he said hopefully. "Boys will be boys and all that-"  
"You need to talk to Al."  
"I talk to him all the time!" Harry replied indignantly, before watching as his wife huffed impatiently. "Wait, you mean _talk _to him?"

"Exactly."

Harry groaned, knowing that now the idea was in Ginny's mind he would have to do it.

"You should do it now."  
"Now?"  
"Well, yes. Because he's not busy now, and I know he's awake and Lily isn't, and everyone's coming around this afternoon-"  
"Can't I just do it tomorrow?" Harry attempted, trying to hold back the inevitable.

"No. Now."

And so Harry decided against arguing, and walked up the stairs with a stomp to rival his children.

Ginny, as always, wasn't wrong; Lily's sleep talking was so loud she could be heard through the door, while Al's room was not echoing with it's normal snores.

Harry knocked on the door, something which he was sure he shouldn't be expected to do in his own house.

"Come in!" his son shouted.

Every now and again, Al's likeness to his own teenage self startled Harry.

"Morning." He said to Albus, once he'd gotten over the initial shock of wondering whether he'd accidentally thrown a time turner around his neck.

"Hi Dad." Al replied, closing the book on his desk and spinning his chair around. "What do you want?"

"Nothing." Harry lied, sitting on the bed. "I just felt like a chat."  
"Dad, what do you want?"  
Harry sighed, shaking his head at his own lack of lying skills and then shuffled so the bedsprings creaked.

"Your mother told me to talk to you."

"About…?"  
"Well," he cleared his throat, and then tried again. He was worse at this then he imagined Ron would be. "Well, I just thought we should discuss your relationship with Madeline-"  
"Maddie."

"Yes, Maddie. Well, since you're seventeen now and legally allowed to, um-"  
Al groaned. "Oh no, Dad you're not trying to give me _the talk_ are you?"

"Well, er, I was-"  
"There's no need Dad."  
"No need?"

"Yeah, I already know, er, everything."

They both moved uncomfortably again, as if mirrors of each other.

"You know everything? How?"

"I-" Then Al tilted his head a little, as if he was thinking of something… Or remembering… "I've already done it."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah." He replied, looking a little confused if anything. "Yeah, near the beginning of the year actually."  
"Oh." Harry nodded, thinking back to the beginning of his sixth year when Voldemort had been gaining power. It made him happy, how extremely different Al's life was, even if it was inappropriate. "I assume that you were-"  
"Yeah, we were safe. Or at least… yeah, we were safe."  
"Oh. Alright then." Harry said awkwardly, as Al looked down at his wriggling feet. "I never thought I'd see this day; my son in love." Harry half joked, half confessed.

"Well, you've put up with James in love with Louisa for ages-"  
"Yes, I guess I've only really got love-sick Lily left to meet." Harry smiled.

"Well, not- Yes, yeah, you're right." Al stood up. "So, Dad, mind if I carry on with my work?"

Harry almost expected Al's nervousness at the mention of Lily; there was definitely something going on with her that they didn't want Harry or Ginny to know.

However, despite Lily's constant nervousness, Louis' hints, Al's awkward conversations and even Jake's uncomfortable smiles, Harry and Ginny were sure they knew exactly what was going on. They assumed she had a boyfriend; some Quidditch playing idiot who was still at Hogwarts, being tortured by James and Fred. He quite liked that idea really; of everyone hating Lily's boyfriend, after all there was no way he was good enough for her, whoever he was.

This thought lingered in his mind for the rest of the day; as he tidied his desk, helped Ginny clean the kitchen and read the Daily Prophet.

The thought even stayed as they disapparated to the Burrow, and arrived to waves from their relatives.

Harry greeted Hugo, Louis and Jake, and Hermione, Molly, Bill, George, Angelina and Arthur, and then turned to his best friend, who was holding out firewhiskey for him already.

"Thanks, mate." Harry smiled, as he and Ron sat on the sofa while everyone else settled down around them in their own conversations. "How are you? Is Rose doing alright?"  
"I wouldn't know, she's not written to us."  
"Well I'm sure she is."  
"Yeah, me too." Ron replied, weakly. "What have you done today?"  
"Work, mostly. Oh, and I found out that Al's not a virgin-"

Ron choked on his firewhiskey at that, then finally whispered when he'd stopped coughing. "Al's slept with someone?"  
"Apparently."  
"But… who? When? Wait, if Al's done it then… Scorpius is Al's best friend!"  
"Ron, it'll be fine." Harry said reasonably, despite the fact that he was completely sure Ron was right to be worried.

He would be a wreck in Ron's position; losing Lily to some scumbag would be the worst possibility.

Thinking this, he looked up to the place on the sofa he vaguely registered Lily had sat at.

She wasn't there.

"Where's Lily?" Harry asked his son, who shrugged uselessly in reply.

"… And God knows that Draco Malfoy won't be the best parent in the world, but I do doubt he'd allow Scorpius to be anywhere near Rose in _Malfoy Manor_." Harry partly listened to Ron's rant, but was still questioning the whereabouts of his daughter.

"Hugo, where's Lily?" he asked, while Ron glared at him.

"Are you even listening to me?" the ginger man asked, sounding like a moody teenager.

"One second." Harry said simply, before returning to the children, who were looking at each other a little awkwardly. "Have any of you seen Lily?"  
"No, but Uncle Harry, did I tell you about what happened in my Herbology lesson? Well…"  
Harry raised his eyebrows as Louis fruitlessly tried to distract him.

"Louis, where is she?"  
"And then Professor Longbottom-"  
"Louis."

"She, er, went to show Jake the gnomes outside." Al lied, looking up at the ceiling and folding his arms as he did so.

"Yeah, they'll be back any minute…" Hugo spoke as Ron stood up and walked towards the window. "No really, Dad, they'll just be a second-" he tried, but Ron was already pressing his nose against the glass.

"Bloody… Harry, you might want to see this."  
"No, no you won't! Uncle Ron, you might've had too much firewhiskey-" Louis said panickedly.

Harry was already stood up, walking towards the window despite Louis, Hugo and Al's protests.

And then he saw Lily stood in the garden, under the trees which they used to play Quidditch by.

Her cousins hadn't completely lied to him; she was in the garden with Jake Thomas, but it wasn't gnomes she was showing him,

She was in the garden kissing Jake Thomas.

…

It was the biggest day in a man's life, people said. And Al had gone and forgotten it.

Forgotten almost every single detail of it.

Although he knew it happened, because he remembered their giggles and her skin against his and… Well, he could remember little details. He knew it wasn't made up; he knew it had happened.

_He wasn't a virgin. _

And it had taken a conversation with his Dad for him to realise.

It was, in fact, as he lied to his Dad to avoid the awkward conversation that he realised he wasn't lying at all. Everything came back to him in that short second.

Now, a few hours later, he felt a feeling of accomplishment. Not only had he remembered, after Maddie had begged him to for months, but he had also beaten almost all of his friends to it; Scorpius and his brother at least. Yeah, he was pretty proud that he'd done it before James.

He was wondering to himself whether to write to Maddie and tell her he remembered, but he had a feeling that it may be better to bring it up face to face than on paper; he panicked a little that her mother would intercept the letter or that Stitch would fly to Aunt Rachel again.

So, understandably, he was distracted when his father asked him where his sister was. That was why he only shrugged in reply.

His cousins weren't impressed by this, and glared at him a little as Harry asked Hugo the same question.

Now, all three of them were getting fed up of covering for Lily and Jake (at this point they were doing it more to stop themselves getting into trouble than for the couple) but, they still banded together and attempted to stop Al's Dad getting anywhere near the window.

They weren't watching Uncle Ron.

"Bloody… Harry, you might want to see this."

Al couldn't really do anything as he watched his Dad walk to the window, he and Hugo just looked worriedly at each other as Louis tried one last time to stop Harry…

"Gin!" Al's Dad yelled loudly as Ron shook his head in disbelief.

Al tried to read the look on his Dad's face; he could only imagine what he'd seen outside and couldn't quite work out what reaction to expect.

"Is anything really that important that you have to shout-?"  
"Yep, definitely." Ron nodded from behind the kids, as they had turned and looked at the other adults when Ginny replied.

"Why, what's-?"  
And then within minutes all the parents were stood in the window, the boys sat helplessly on the sofa and Lily obliviously doing whatever-she-was-doing outside.

At this point two things happened; Al's Mum stormed outside and his Grandmother and Father followed, while the rest of the parents turned on Al, Hugo and Louis.

Al didn't appreciate this one bit.  
"Did you know about this?" Bill asked, a question Al and Hugo assumed was for Louis.

"Well, er, yeah. I don't normally talk about school that much…" Louis laughed weakly.

"So even before you invited him to our house-?"  
"Yeah." Louis shrugged. "But he is my best friend, he didn't only come because of Lily-"  
"Yeah, he was our friend first-" Hugo agreed.  
"And then he went off with my sister." Al finished, looking up, hopeful that the adults would now let it go.

"I know what that feels like." Ron nodded, still looking immensely confused and shocked, like the rest of the adults.

"Ginny and Harry can't exactly get mad at Lily for doing what they did, can they?" George pointed out, and the boys nodded.

Al hadn't really thought of it like that; for some reason the women in the family had a collective thing for going out with their relative's best friends, he realised.

"What's going on out there?" Hugo asked, leaning to try and see out of the window which the parents were blocking.

Ron and George turned their heads, while Aunt Hermione mumbled something about it being none of their business. "No one's dead, at least." George joked. The boys laughed a little, then the adults sat down on the sofas nearby.

And then a silence washed over them that Al had never experienced before.

He could only listen as the old grandfather clock creaked, and the wind whistled past the glass window stopping them from eavesdropping.

They stayed like that for what seemed like years; Hugo, who notoriously hated silence, had begun to hum a tune under his breath.

Al's Dad came back in first, looking incredibly calm, followed by his Mum and his Grandmother (who, incidentally, looked quite happy).

And then Lily and Jake came in. If they weren't so tense, Al would have laughed at their faces; Jake looked like he'd been petrified, and Lily looked so much like his mother that it almost scared him.

"Everything, er, alright?" Uncle Bill said, while Uncle Ron and George repressed laughter like the kids did.

"Everything's fine."  
"Seriously?" Louis asked, loudly. "You mean we've acted like idiots covering for these guys for the last two weeks and now '_everything's fine'_?" Lily glared at Louis as he said this, before turning her glances to Al. He had a feeling that, if Lily was anything to do with it, they weren't going to survive for much longer.

"Yes, everything's fine."

Something about his Mother's voice told Al that everything wasn't in fact _fine, _but that she had been reminded by her own mother that she couldn't punish her child for what she had once done. She and Al's Dad sat on the last remaining sofa a little stiffly, and Jake and Lily deliberately sat on either side of Louis.

And then, again, Hugo began to hum.

However, this was the Burrow; the house that was inhabited by, in Al's opinion, the coolest family in the world. In The Burrow, atmospheres didn't hang around for long.

In fact, only an hour later Al's parents were fine, eating homemade cakes.

"Do you know, everything's changed so much." Uncle Ron said loudly, before placing another bun in his mouth.

"What do you mean?" Al's Dad asked.

"Well," Ron swallowed the cake whole and continued. "We used to worry about being murdered; now we worry about who our daughter's dating."

"Yeah but that's nice. It's simple." Harry pointed out, to which most of the adults nodded.

Apart from George; he shook his head. "It's boring!"

"Not from this side it's not." Al laughed. "Seriously, in Hogwarts there's always something happening in our family, it's insane-"

"We'll get to see it, then, won't we?" His Mum smiled knowingly at the adults, who nodded.

The children exchanged confused glances.  
"What?" Hugo asked, crumbs falling from his mouth.  
"We're coming back for memorial day this year."  
"So? You always do." Lily shrugged.  
"This time we're staying for a few days." Uncle Bill told them.

"Why?" Hugo whined.

"Because," Aunt Hermione began. "Since, they're putting the final Quidditch match on the day after, and it's the twenty fifth anniversary, we all agreed to stay for a few days."

"So, you're coming to our school?" Louis said dumbly.

"It was our school before it was yours!" Uncle George replied indignantly.

"Although it seems like a completely different school now. We didn't have parties like you children-"  
"Speak for yourself!" Bill laughed at Hermione.

"Speaking of Hogwarts, have any of you spoken to the other children?" Harry asked.

Al shook his head, as did Lily and Hugo. Louis nodded. "Er, yeah, Dom wrote to me yesterday."  
"Are they alright?"  
"Yeah. Yeah they're fine."

Out of all the Weasleys, Louis was the best liar, and he was still rubbish at it.

"Louis, what's going on?" Lily asked, although Al thought it was incredibly stupid of her.

Louis shook his head, and hissed "I'll tell you later" unsubtly.

"Tell us all now, Louis." His Mum commanded, in reply to which Louis squirmed.

"I'd really rather not."

"Louis, if you don't then-"  
"You can't bribe him into it, Bill." Grandma told her son.

"Why not, he won't tell us otherwise-?"  
"He will." Al's Mum said meaningfully, before looking back at Louis.

"Look, if something's happening we can probably help-" Aunt Hermione began.  
"No, you can't help." Louis shook his head, then turned desperately to Al. "Do you really not know?"  
Al shook his head apologetically; he would hate to be the only person with the information his family wanted. Louis wasn't going to last two minutes and he knew it.

"Look, it's probably nothing to worry about!" Louis said squeakily.

"Then you can tell us."  
"She's pregnant."

There was a sharp intake of breath from every parent, and every child. Apart from Louis, who exhaled as if he'd just swallowed a chilli flavour Every Flavour Bean.

"Wait, my daughter's-"  
"No, not Dom!"  
"Then who? Roxy?"

Louis shook his head.

"Eugh, it'll probably be Rose knowing my luck!" Uncle Ron exclaimed, leaning forward and sighing with his head in his hands.

"Nope, it's not her either."  
"Well then… Lily?"  
"No!" Lily exclaimed, and Al had a slight funny distraction for a second when he saw the look on her face.

"So then-"  
"Anna!" Hugo exclaimed excitedly, as it was unlikely he'd ever been the first person to work anything out before.

Louis could only nod, and Al's mouth fell open in sync with the other adults.

"Wait, my son…" Uncle George looked like he was about to fall over; his mouth wasn't open; his lip was clenched firmly between his teeth and his hands were wringing awkwardly.

"Well, no; his girlfriend." Aunt Angelina sighed, leaning her head back on the sofa.

The other parents were silent, glancing at each other as nervously and awkwardly as Al was looking at his cousins.

"But I think they're working it out-" Louis said hopefully.

"How?" George exclaimed, standing up. "No, look I have to go-"  
"George, calm down." Al's grandmother said sternly from the armchair.

"No, Mum! Mistakes like these ruin people's lives. I-I'm not letting that happen to my son!"

And then, instead of turning and disapparating or flooing from the fireplace, George stormed out of the door.

The silence he left behind was thick with everybody's thoughts; the children trying to fathom their Uncle's completely uncharacteristic behaviour and the adults staring ahead with worry pasted to their faces.

It must have been five or even ten minutes until anyone broke the silence.

Arthur Weasley, in Al's opinion the best Grandfather to ever live, cleared his throat and sighed.

"Wow. Things have really changed since I was in Hogwarts."


	58. Could've Been

It's only been a week! Woop! I'm getting better at this updating malarkey…

Anyways, as always, thankyou to all my wonderful reviewers and alerters and favouriters and readers; it means a lot to me! 3 more favourites to 200! Hint hint…  
Anonymous reviewers: _LP _(Glad you liked it, thanks for the review), _MissingMommy _(I'm glad you liked it, you didn't see Dom owl Louis but they are in contact, obviously :D Keep reading!), _rednose _(Ah, I know poor parents. And silly Al. Thanks for the review! :D) and _Alysa4eva _(Thanks for reading it all, hope you liked it and like this chapter!). Hopefully I've replied to all of the rest of you!  
Also, hi to all my new readers who have now read all 57 chapters! Thanks for persevering, and please recommend this story to your friends if you really like it; it means so much to me!

Finally, I hope you like this chapter. I tried something a little different and I hope it works out.

_**Disclaimer: **__I'm not JK Rowling. I just wish I was. Since I'm not though, Harry Potter isn't mine.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Eight- Could've Been)**

_Children were crying; crying so loud that Fred wondered if he'd ever sleep again. _

"_Dad! Dad!" He turned, pulling his pillow over his head and accidentally bumping into the woman who lay next to him. _

"_Daddy!" Another child shouted, this time a little girl, as a baby started to wail._

_He sat up, resigned to the fact that they weren't going to shut up, and looked at the alarm clock which flashed 4:30 at him._

"_They're shouting you for a reason." The woman next to him told him sternly, before sitting up and running her hands through her hair. _

_Barely older than twenty two, Anna still managed to look like she'd lived for hundreds of years; her hair was thin, her cheekbones defined with huge bags under her eyes. Fred told himself that this wasn't the girl he'd fallen in love with; this was just the woman he was obliged to stay with._

"_Da-add!" _

_Fred sighed, sitting up and swinging his feet over the side of the bed and onto the carpet, the dust mingling between his toes._

_Walking out of the dirty bedroom, into the dingy kitchen/living room/dining room, Fred caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the cooker. He looked so much like his father that it made him want to scream; his face was just aged as Anna's even though he knew he was only 23. Shaking his head, he carried on walking past the table with red envelopes piling on top of it, past the Daily Prophet with the pictures of his cousins on the front cover and past the letters Lily sent from travels around the world._

_He opened the door to the source of the noise, into a room with two small beds and a cot crammed into it with barely room to move around them. Two children were sat on the bed, wide eyed, wearing Fred and Roxy's old tattered clothes from when they were younger. A baby wailed in the cot, and Fred bent over the side to saw that the child lying inside had Anna's green eyes. The twins on the bed had Fred's eyes and Anna's face; they were beautiful, sure, but Fred couldn't help but tell himself that they shouldn't exist yet. _

"_Daddy, Daddy; Oliver fell out of his bed and onto me and woke me up and then Katie woke up too when I yelled for you because it hurt and now-"_

"_And now you're all awake." Fred completed, smiling a little at his daughter but really complaining inside. _

"_Yes, but it's not my fault I fell out of the bed; it's too small!" Little Oliver whined, Fred shaking his head as he said this. _

_He remembered that he and Roxy had grown up with beds that they claimed were too big; they'd deliberately shared one bed until they were about six, because they didn't like to be so far away from each other in their own rooms._

_In this little flat, though, his kids practically slept on top of each other in beds they didn't even fit in. There was no way that they would fit another bed in there for Katie when she was older; Fred dreaded thinking of the sleeping situation when she grew up._

_He shook his head again, closing his eyes as he did so._

_And then he was taken to the way it should've been. _

_Instead of some old Hogwarts jumper, he was wearing a suit, sat at the breakfast table while Oliver and Angie squabbled on the floor riding toy broomsticks. Katie rolled on the rug in front of the fireplace, giggling as Anna, at least 30 years old but youth still sparkling in her eyes, laughed. _

"_Daddy! Daddy?" Fred opened his eyes again to the real Angie, tilting her head. "Daddy? What were you thinking about?"  
"I was thinking that you two should go back to sleep." He sighed._

"_Daddy, we don't want to."  
Fred shook his head, and then pointed to the beds. The kids obeyed, climbing in unhappily before Fred picked up the still crying Katie and carried her into the other room._

_She wouldn't stop crying though; no matter how he wished her to. The room didn't change, the situation didn't get any better, no matter how he wished it to._

"Fred."

_Fred shook his head, looking around at the small, dark life he'd been left with._

"_I don't want this." He said to himself, Katie still crying defiantly. "I don't want this!" he yelled as she continued to cry._

"Fred!"

He woke with a start, sitting up and smacking his head into James', who swore loudly and reeled off the bed and around the dorm, where he stood on something and began hopping as well.

"Sorry." Fred mumbled, lying back down and placing his hand on his aching head.

James glared at him, still hopping comically, looking as if he were about to reply with _"You should be" _or _"I should hope so."_

But he didn't say those things; instead he sat down on the chair behind him and sighed.

"Bad dream?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Fred mumbled in reply.

"Ok. Well if you do then-"  
"I won't." Fred replied immaturely.

"Right… Well since you missed breakfast, I picked up your mail for you."  
"Thanks." Fred shrugged.

"You should probably read it soon; it looks pretty important."

Fred thought of the bills he had dreamt of. "Important how?"  
"It says _'Fred'_ with about ten lines underneath it." He chucked it so it landed in the middle of Fred's chest, then hovered in the silence for a moment. "Well I'll leave you to read it yourself. Since everyone's home tomorrow I'm trying to book us the Quidditch pitch so-"

"Alright." Fred nodded, turning the letter over.

"You know, you're going to have to talk to her eventually." James said as he opened the door. "Your sister's going to kill you when you finally leave this room."  
"What do I care? My life's over anyway."

James shook his head. "Fine." He said simply before shutting the door.

Fred thought James had no right to be mad at him. James, like everyone else, had no idea what Fred was going through. The only person who did understand was the person Fred had spent the last few days ignoring completely.

He sat up and turned the letter over on his lap, before inhaling a little and ripping open the envelope.

He didn't know what he expected; he just knew that whatever he was about to read wasn't going to make him feel any better.

He thought James might be lying, and it might be a letter from Anna or Roxy, or he'd got a letter from some underage parent's foundation… He didn't know what to expect.

When he unfolded the paper, however, he saw that he recognised the handwriting but it wasn't Roxy or Anna's; it was his Dad's. And from the second his mind made that realisation his hands started shaking uncontrollably.

_Son,  
Anna's pregnant, isn't she? Your cousins are awful at keeping secrets, but in this case I'm glad about it. I need to know that, somehow, I've helped you do the right thing. That I've helped you make the right decision, and you haven't gone through this alone like I did.  
I'm not going to lie to you, Fred, it's time you know the truth. Not that the truth really makes any difference, but I think it would help to show you that I'm not like everyone else who claims to know what you're going through; I truly do know what you're going through.  
First though, I need you to promise that you'll never tell your sister, because she doesn't need to know. Like I say, it doesn't really make any difference; you just need to know you're not alone. I'm going to have to assume you've agreed to this promise, I guess. Never tell Roxy. Or your Mother, for that matter. She wouldn't want you to know but I think you need to.  
We didn't plan on having you, Angelina and I. We're not like my brothers and their wives; we weren't destined-to-be-together, childhood-sweethearts. In fact, your mother was Fred's girlfriend. And when Fred died, your mother and I were just kind of thrown together in grief and there was never meant to be a future for us. Until you happened.  
At the time you were mistakes. But now I can't imagine my life without you and Roxy; you gave me back a life and a future that I'd given up on the day my brother died. You gave me a reason to live again. Looking back, I don't think I ever really did live until I held my own flesh and blood in my arms.  
It's not the same for you though, is it? I was twenty seven; I was done with school and had something to do with my life. You already are living; you don't need a reason, do you? All we really have in common is that I went through the same shock of finding out of I was going to be a father; the same realisation that my life would never be the same.  
I know you, Fred; I know you won't kid yourself into thinking that this will make your life better. It won't. So I'm writing to try and persuade you to make the right decision, you and Anna. She has to be in charge of it all and you have to stick by her no matter what, and we'll stick by you. But if you have any say in it at all, don't give up on your future.  
Dad. X_

Fred sat and stared at the piece of paper for what felt like hours, reading and re-reading every word on the page.

He was a mistake.

He and Roxy; they weren't meant to be in the world any more than the child he'd created was.

Even more so, his parents weren't meant to be together. She was meant to be with Fred... What, had she just settled for his lookalike?

They didn't even love each other; they were only together because Fred and Roxy "_happened_".

Everything he had ever believed in had fallen apart in one short letter.

He started to wonder why, in any way, his Dad thought this would make him feel better; all it did was add to his worries, make him wonder if he should follow in his Dad's footsteps… Make him wonder if his parents had secretly been miserable for all his life.

He ripped the paper up, as if destroying the letter would make it like he'd never found out; as if it would make him view his family as he did before.

It didn't work though; the room seemed to echo every word in the letter, as if it had been scribbled on the surrounding walls.

He left without changing his pyjama bottoms and only just remembering to pull on one of James' shirts as he fled down the stairs.

The common room, as he'd become accustomed to it being during these holidays, was empty apart from one or two third years and Dom and Roxy sat in the corner.

Both of these relatives stood up, storming towards him as Fred stumbled, wondering where to go now.

"Fred, I can't believe that you would…!" Roxy began, shrieking in a way similar to the way he'd heard Aunt Hermione yell. He didn't listen to what she said though; he was busy just looking at her, and thinking about everything she didn't know. She still thought their parents loved each other, while Fred was sure that they didn't and that they never had.

"…You're not even thinking about what a state you've left Anna in!" Roxy continued.

Fred lifted his head up a little, realising that he'd almost completely forgotten the most important problem he had to cope with at the moment. And as he realised this, it dawned on him how selfish he was being. It wasn't just _his _problem; it was his and Anna's. It was even Roxy's too; whether she had a niece or nephew about to enter her life. Obviously, it was their parent's problem too; they would never have wanted any of this for their children. And the rest of their family… It wasn't just Fred. He couldn't carry on being this self-centred.

"Where is she?" He asked simply, turning his head to Dom as Roxanne continued to rant tirelessly.

"She's in the hospital wing, Fred, thanks for asking." Roxy replied angrily.

"Why, is there something wrong with her?" Fred asked, panicking instinctively.

"No." Dom said calmly. "No, don't worry… Well, maybe worry."  
"What do you mean?"  
"She finds out today, Fred."

"And you're meant to be with her, but instead you've been sulking in your room while Anna sits here too scared to go and ask you to help her!"

"Roxy, that's enough." Dom sighed, as Fred shook his head tiredly.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled.

Roxy softened; the anger disappeared and she looked on the verge of hugging him instead of hitting him. "I don't think you've ever said that before."  
"Well I mean it. I know I've been an idiot for the past few days, and I really am sorry." He sighed, looking at Roxy again. _She wasn't meant to exist. _

He debated telling her; repairing the letter upstairs and making her read it, but it would be like betraying his father, somehow.

He walked away from Roxy and Dom, mumbling that he was going to find Anna.

He wasn't sure if that was genuinely his plan though; he wasn't sure what he'd say to her if he saw her.

Walking down the corridors slowly, he carried on feeling sorry for himself. He wondered if there was anyone else in the world who had as much on his mind as he did; he had an unwanted child on the way and he was an unwanted child.

"Fred!"

He closed his eyes, her voice reminding him almost painfully of his dream from this morning.

In reality, though, her voice wasn't old or stern or unhappy; she sounded young and…

He looked up; she was walking the other way down the corridor with a large smile on her face. A smile that told him that he had one less problem to worry about; that he wasn't going to completely follow in his unhappy father's footsteps.

They ran to each other almost in slow motion, reminding Fred of the stupid muggle movies Dom made him watch where the couples ran through fields towards each other.

"I'm so sorry I did this to us-"  
"You're not, are you?" he asked urgently, to which she simply shook her head and smiled again.

"Thank god."

And Fred, refusing to let himself wonder what he would've done if she was, and refusing to think about his Father's bombshell for just a few minutes, smiled back widely and kissed his girlfriend.

There weren't going to be any screaming children around in the near future; the only screaming he could expect was the screams of his sister when she found out the truth.


	59. Moving Forward

Woah, is Liss updating already? Yes, my wonderful readers, I am. Sorry, I'm seriously happy because I've finally prebooked my seats for HP7. 29 days left! :D

Anyways, back to story world; thankyou so much for the 200 favourites, and for all the alerts. I also wanted to say an extra special thankyou to _Sam Storsky _who added me to his _Absolute Classics _community. It means a lot. Anyways, finally anonymous reviewers: _rednose _(George was trying to help it was just a little twisted. Thanks for the review! :D), _Anonymous _(Unfortunately I'm forced to disagree with you, since I'm watching two of my best friends go through this at the moment and I'm trying to write about what they seem to be going through. Everyone reacts differently to different things, but since family means so much to Fred I think it would hurt him a lot. Thanks for the review J), _Lulip _(Nah, George isn't insane. He's trying to help. Thanks for the review!), _A True Dreamer _(Yep, George wasn't exactly the cleverest fellow was he? Thanks for the review; keep reading!) and _wolfyoded _(I have thought about a sequel but this story isn't going to finish for a while anyway! Thanks so much for the review!). Thankyou to you all, hopefully I've replied to all my other reviewers!

As always, please read and review and I hope you like this chapter. One or two reviewers seem to think that the drama has finished now the holidays are over… you couldn't be more wrong. :D

_**Disclaimer: **__Wengardium Leviosa! Ok, that doesn't work, so I'm not a witch. And I didn't invent the wizarding community; that amazing world belongs to JK Rowling.

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_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Fifty Nine- Moving Forward)**

The last days of the holiday went by so fast that Al was barely aware of how he ended up running into the barrier of Platform 9 and 3/4s.

After two weeks completely removed from the craziness of his Hogwarts life, he was almost shocked to be thrown instantly back into it.

"Oh my God! It's the Potters!" A girl exclaimed the second he set foot on the crowded platform.

"Lily Potter once borrowed one of my quills." A boy boasted from their right, as a group of mothers from his left began to beg for autographs.

"Head down, keep walking." Al's Dad said quietly under his breath, to which Lily, Al and their mother laughed a little. It had become somewhat of a catchphrase for the family.

"Ron and Hermione are probably already here, somewhere down near the other end." Al's Mum suggested, so Al tried to direct his already temperamental luggage trolley through a crowd of what could only be described as _fans_ to the other end of the platform.

Sure enough, Uncle Ron and Hermione stood there with Hugo, Louis and Jake.

"I can't wait to go back to Hogwarts." Louis smiled when Al had managed to get the luggage trolley to stop inches from his leg.

"Well, you can't say these holidays have been boring though, can you?" Aunt Hermione pointed out, to which Hugo shook his head.

"Nope, they've definitely been eventful!"

Uncle Ron huffed, looking across the platform restlessly.

"Scorpius and Rose not here yet then?" Al asked Louis quietly, who shook his head.

"Nah, and Uncle Ron's going to explode if they're not here in a minute."

Al laughed, looking up at his Uncle who was going a little redder with every second that passed.

"So, you kids be good this term and we'll see you in May-"  
"No, no, no… They don't need to be getting on the train just yet! They've got ages!" Ron began, glancing erratically.

"They have ten minutes." Al's Mum replied, matter-of-factly.

"That's ages!" Uncle Ron replied stubbornly, standing on his tiptoes and making himself tower over everyone else even more. "They're there! They're over there!" he pointed out obviously, before leaning back casually by the wall and staring at the ceiling as, as he had correctly pointed out, Rose, Scorpius and Mr Malfoy walked in their direction.

As Al watched them, however, his self-sympathy disappeared; he'd far rather be adored than feared the way the Malfoys seemed to be. The mothers who had shrieked when the Potters walked past now pulled their children out of Mr Malfoy's way, whispering sternly. Everyone across the platform seemed to have descended into whispering.

"Dad!" Rose exclaimed when she was close enough, acting as if (although Al doubted she was) she was oblivious to the stares.

Ron, much to the amusement of the boys, looked up suprisedly and said "Oh, there you are!"

A few footsteps later, Rose and Scorpius were mere feet away from the family; Scorpius' Dad stood a few steps behind them.

"Draco." Al's Dad said in a low voice from behind Al, where he had now moved to stand next to Ron.

"Mr Potter. Mr Weasley." Mr Malfoy replied, in a voice so cold that Al wondered how Rose hadn't frozen to death in the last week.

"Draco." Uncle Ron replied. "Thank you for looking after Rose for the week."

"Thank you for looking after Scorpius last week."

Then the two men nodded at each other, wordlessly. Al glanced between the two of them, wondering who would break eye contact first. He looked up to see that he wasn't the only one; not only were Rose and Scorpius scanning nervously between the two of them, but so was the rest of the family; Al had the feeling that even some of the bystanders were watching the bizarre exchange.

The tension was broken, however, by the loud whistle of the train. Everyone seemed to come out of their silent trance, and turn to their children.

"Scorpius, good luck in your exams." Draco Malfoy said simply before walking through the parting crowd behind him.

"Rose it's good to have you back. Be good this term." Hermione smiled, as Harry said something similar to Lily.

"Bye Scorpius, it was good to meet you." Ron said, Al turning and blinking at him, dumbstruck for a moment.

"Thank you, sir." Scorpius replied.

"No need for the sir; Ron'll do."

"Oh look, Ron's being a grown up!" Al's Mum joked. "Now come on all of you, get on the train."

The children obeyed, throwing their trunks haphazardly onto the train through an empty door.

"It's a shame Madeline's not around; I would have liked to have met her." Al's Mum said, to which Aunt Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Yes," Al's Dad agreed, "We'll have to meet her soon, Al, she seems very special to you."

Al glanced at his Dad, who smiled back knowingly.

"Yeah, you will." He replied. "See you soon."

"See you in May!" Aunt Hermione told the children as they began to step onto the train.

"May?" Rose exclaimed. "What do you-?"  
"I'll explain in a minute, Rose, move up the train so Hugo can fit on." Al commanded.

Rose did as she was told, moving up the train so Hugo could squash into the compartment with all their luggage and successfully shut the door.

Al heard every variation of the word "goodbye" shouted in the next minute or so, as the train began to move out of the station.

And then they stopped shouting and, as always, turned to go their own ways.

"See you in a bit, we're going to find that Lucy Brown girl-"  
"Yeah, we think she was confunded last time." Hugo smiled, picking up his luggage and following Louis.

"See you later, bro." Lily smiled at Al, before going in the same direction as the boys with Jake.

Al was then left with just Scorpius and Rose.

"So, you got back in one piece then!" He joked.

"Sure did!" Rose replied, smiling a little weirdly at Scorpius.

Al ignored this, picking up his trunk and walking down the carriage looking for a compartment.

Luckily, at this point, he saw just the girl he'd been planning on finding.

He wasn't the one who ran into her arms and shrieked though. No, that was his cousin.

Rose pushed past Al, straight into Maddie, and began jumping up and down and talking so fast that Al wondered if they'd both learned gobbledegook.

Scorpius laughed from Al's side, Al joining in.

Eventually Maddie and Rose were done reuniting, and it was Al's turn with his girlfriend.

He kissed her gently, unsure of what else to do.

"Missed you." he said quietly, before sighing. He didn't really know how else to put it, so he leant down and whispered in her ear "I remembered."

She smiled, her eyes wide in shock. "You're kidding."  
"No. I remembered." he repeated, a little louder. Rose and Scorpius just stood and watched, looking confused.

"Well I mean-"

"We can talk about it later." He said simply, tilting his head to his cousin and best friend who were desperately trying to combine their large brains and work out what they were talking about. "Shall we sit down?" He suggested, looking into the compartment next to them to see it was empty.

"You two can, Rose and I just want to catch up for a second out here."

"Ok." Al shrugged, taking Maddie's trunk from her and plonking it down on one of the seats inside. Scorpius did the same, sitting opposite the seat Al took.

Then the girls slid the door shut.

"So, good week?" Scorpius asked, leaning back tiredly on the seat.

"Yeah, it was a bit boring but ok. What about you?"  
"It was alright." Scorpius shrugged. "It never was going to be brilliant; it was my house." Al nodded knowingly. "But it got better in the end."  
"Good, I'm glad." Al replied. "Did you hear-?"  
"Oh my God, you didn't!" Madeline shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth in her silhouette.

"We did." Rose replied, before Maddie squealed again and Rose hushed her.

"Do they not think we can hear them?" Al asked, turning and looking at his best friend, who was staring out of the window deliberately. "You slept with my cousin, didn't you?"  
"Kind of." Scorpius nodded, turning an unnatural shade of red for his pale skin.

"_'Kind of'_?" Al repeated, somehow realising that he wasn't actually angry. Part of him was proud; he'd still beaten him to it, after all.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Oh my god, you slept with my cousin!" Another shriek came from the other side of the door, this time from Rose.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows at Al, who blushed back.

"When did you sleep with Maddie?" he asked.

"Remember that party at the beginning of the year? Then." Al replied.

"And you remembered six months later? Wow, must've been good." He teased, before Al stuck two fingers up at him.

They both laughed, stopping the second they heard the question both of them wanted the answers to.

"So, how was it?"

"Well," Rose began, leaning on the glass so Scorpius and Al could fully see the black of her robes. Both boys had given up on the pretence that they were only overhearing and were now leaning towards the door. "The first time it was-"  
"The first time?" Maddie laughed.

"Mads, we've been staying together for a week now. When you first learn to fly you don't fly around, say _'that was nice'_ and put the broom down do you?"

Madeline laughed again, and it dawned on Al how much he'd missed that noise.

"I can't believe you're making a flying analogy; you hate flying."  
"Oh. Well then flying isn't a good example." Rose replied, laughing.

Al glanced at Scorpius, who was smiling to himself proudly. He couldn't help but snigger a little at his expression.

"Right, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but what about Al? Not too many details please!"

"Well…" Al leant so far towards the door that he fell down on the seat, but didn't bother to get up because he could hear better from his new ridiculous position. "Let's just say you shouldn't drink and fly."

Scorpius burst into laughter, bending forward and almost toppling onto the floor of the carriage. Rose was laughing too, on the other side of the door.

"Shut up!" Al yelled, partially jokily and partially seriously at Scorpius.

The door slid open, and Maddie stuck her head around the side. "Can you hear us?" she asked, panickedly, before turning to Scorpius, seeing his laughter and pulling a face. "Oh."  
"So can the rest of the bloody carriage." Al replied, moodily.

Maddie slid into the compartment onto the seat next to him, Rose following and bursting into laughter again at the sight of Al.

"Stop bloody laughing!" Al whined.

"Sorry, mate." Scorpius replied, straightening up and looking back at him with a strained straight face.

Rose wore the same expression.

The two of them only lasted a few more seconds before they gave up and began to laugh again, hysterically.

And Al gave up and decided to laugh too, so Maddie joined in.

And Al thought to himself, even though they were laughing like little children; they'd grown up a lot since the last time they'd been on this train.

…

Roxy sat watching the empty corridors.

They were going to be full in a few hours; totally jam packed with adolescents and their dramas. As if Hogwarts wasn't dramatic enough.

She quite liked the peace of the last few weeks, but more than anything she liked the peace of this exact moment. In a few hours everyone would be back and everything would be just as crazy as it was before, but for a few more seconds she could sit with no worries at all.

"Hey." Roxy heard Jamie's voice before she saw him, looking up to see him walking towards her.

"Hey." She replied, smiling.

He didn't say anything else, just sat down next to her and stared into the distance like she imagined she'd been doing.

They stayed like that for a while, until he quietly said "It's nice isn't it? Peaceful?"  
"Yeah." Roxy nodded.

"I bet you're looking forward to having everyone back though."

"Not really. Are you?"  
"Yeah, just a little bit. I won't be the only seventh year Ravenclaw anymore. I'll actually have something to do." He joked.

She nodded, before biting her lip a little. Not so much absentmindedly; she was thinking about whether to say what she was thinking. "Well if you want something to do tonight, you could come to this party in the Gryffindor common room. Fred's throwing it because… Well, he's throwing a party anyway. If you want to seem like you were Mr Popular this holiday you could tag along?"

He smiled, his eyes widening a little. "I'd love to."

"Really?" Roxy asked, realising her voice sounded a little over excited. "Well, I'll meet you outside my common room then. At er-"

They were no longer the only people in the corridor, however. Craig was walking in their direction, looking at them a little confusedly.

Without really thinking, Roxy jumped up and walked towards her ex.

"Hey." She said to him simply, still smiling at the fact Jamie had agreed to go to the party tonight.

"Hi." He replied awkwardly, his hands flying to his hair as they always did when he was uncomfortable.

"You alright?" she asked, acting as if having a conversation with him was easy even though it wasn't, particularly. She didn't have anything she wanted to say to him anymore; she only had things she needed to.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess."  
"Good. Well, listen, there's a party tonight in the common room and I thought I should invite you, since you're a Gryffindor too."

She'd decided that they should put it all behind them, and start again, and to do that she had to make an effort to show they were alright again.

He looked surprised, then grateful. "Thanks Rox."

"Invite Louisa as well." She suggested.  
"I can try, but she won't come."

"Why not?"  
"She won't want to; James'll be there."

Roxy nodded, knowingly.

"Well invite her anyway, just so she knows she'll be welcome." Roxy smiled finally, before turning back to Jamie.

He wasn't sat in the windowsill where Roxy had left him, though; he was walking away, down the corridor.

"Jamie!" Roxy shouted after him, finding herself running after him although she wished she wasn't. "Jamie, what are you doing?"  
He turned around, looking angry and hurt. Roxy felt guilty but she didn't know why.

"I'm not being that guy you use to make your ex jealous."

Roxy's mouth fell open. "What? No, that's not why-"  
"I don't want to hear it, Roxy."

He began to turn around again, before Roxy sighed "Jamie, please listen to me."  
He stopped, and looked back at her expectantly.

"I invited Craig because I want everyone to get over the whole thing, not because I wanted him to see me with you; I don't think he cares, Jamie, I wouldn't care if I saw him with a girl. We're not together anymore, and we're both alright with that now."

He nodded, still looking angry, but Roxy could see in his eyes that he believed her.

"Jamie, what did you mean when you said _'you'd say I told you so'_?"

He sighed, looking at his feet. "Rox, it's complicated-"  
"Jamie, my whole life is complicated. I can handle it."

"Well I- I used to really like you. In third year and fourth year, you were all I ever thought about." Roxy shook her head disbelievingly as Jamie carried on. "And I told my friends, and they just thought I was stupid. They kept reminding me that you were a Weasley, and I was just a Ravenclaw and that I just wasn't good enough for you-"  
"No, Jamie-"  
He carried on, as if he hadn't heard her. "But I wouldn't listen to them. So at the end of fourth year I finally decided I was going to go for it with you. And, god it sounds stupid now, but I enchanted your birthday card so that it wrote _'will you go out with me'_ in gold letters as you read it. And I was waiting until your birthday to give it to you, but then Craig beat me to it, because he asked you out-"  
"The day before my birthday." Roxy sighed, still shaking her head.

"Yeah. Exactly. And I knew he wasn't good enough for you, because… Well, I just had an idea that he wasn't. I thought you'd see it too, but you never did, and now it's three years later and you've wasted three years of your life with him when you could've been with… Never mind."  
"I could've been with you." She said quietly, feeling her eyes fill with tears as if the happiness and frustration she felt was bubbling out of her. "I wish I had been."

"Do you mean that?"

"Of course I do." She replied, her voice breaking a little. "How can you have ever thought I was too good for you?"

"Because you're Roxanne Weasley. You're beautiful; you're every guy in school's ideal girl because you're so funny and smart and perfect. And I'm just Jamie Wrenshaw; there's nothing special about me."

"You're special to me." She said quietly, taking control of herself again and telling herself she had no reason to cry.

It dawned on her that this moment, this conversation, was the two of them finally confessing years of feelings and secrets and dreams.

This was the beginning of them; they knew how each other felt and the idea of the two of them being together was now unquestionable, simply inevitable.

All they had to do, now, was be together like they both knew they'd be. It just had to _start._

And as she thought this, he bent down and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that she couldn't have even dreamt of.

She hadn't ever dared to dream that she and Jamie would ever work out, but now they had nothing was going to get in their way.


	60. Just Too Young

Hi Everybody (Hi Dr Nick!)… Or not. :D

So, here's the new chapter and it's only been five days; I'm quite amazed at myself.

Just wanted to say thanks to anonymous reviewers: _PeacockGirl _(Thanks, I'm so glad you like it so much and please keep reviewing!), _rednose _(I'm glad you like Ron, and yes poor Al and Maddie. Thanks so much for the review!), _Alysa4eva _(Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked it and yes Roxy does deserve to be happy doesn't sh? :D) and _A True Dreamer _(Thanks so much, even if it was anonymous. Here's a little mini-reply, nothing compared to the PMs though. :L Thanks. :P) as always, and also a big thankyou and hello to all my new readers; I've had loads of story alerts in the past few days and it's just phenomenal and so inspiring.

I hope you like this chapter; I promised Lily/Jake drama and this definitely delivers. :D

Finally, since we're up to Part 60, I was just wondering if you could review and tell me your favourite part of the story so far (I think mine was all the article drama) or character/couple or who you'd like to see more of? Feedback's brilliant, good or bad and (as my regular reviewers know) I absolutely adore long reviews.

_**Disclaimer: **__23 days until Harry Potter, and it hasn't magically come into my ownership. Gutted.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty- Just Too Young)**

Dom stared into the mirror and looked at her shiny, blonde hair.

Her hair was everything she hated about herself; the idea of blondes being stupid or slutty, the fact she was the only blonde Weasley girl, the way it looked so perfect from far away, but was breaking into pieces when you looked at it closely.

She plaited her fringe back, looking into her own blue eyes as she did so, absentmindedly humming along with the music that boomed from the common room below.

She loved the idea of Fred's "My Girlfriend's Not Pregnant" party tonight; welcoming all their friends back, catching up on all the gossip from home and having fun again for the first time in two weeks. She had a feeling, though, that it wouldn't work out like that; everyone would be too busy with their own lives to settle into conversation about anything Dom thought was important, and she would end up getting bored and throwing herself at the nearest guy to feel wanted again.

"Guys, do I look alright?" Roxy asked after opening the door from the bathroom into the bedroom.

"Yeah, you look great." Anna replied, leaning over her trunk in only her underwear and throwing clothes around.

"Really, Dom?" Roxy checked, looking down at her.

Dom looked Roxanne up and down, before nodding her approval. She did appreciate the fact that her fashion advice was the only one Roxy cared about.

Roxy nodded, pulling her purple dress further down her legs. "You sure it's not too short?"

"I'm sure, Rox. Why does it matter what you look like anyway?"

Roxy didn't reply, instead she leaned over Dom's shoulder and examined her own reflection.

The best thing about being cousins with Roxy, Dom thought, was that they looked nothing alike.

Roxy pulled on her curled hair, pouting the way she always did when she looked in the mirror and making Dom laugh a little to herself.

"Hey listen guys, if I don't come back tonight don't worry, yeah?" Roxy asked quietly.

Dom watched in the mirror as Anna stood up so quickly as she pulled her shirt on that fell over her own feet and onto her bed.

They all laughed, Roxy running over and helping Anna up.

"Are you alright?"

"Not important." Anna replied, standing up again and pulling her top down. She was wearing another outfit Dom had already approved; a plain white shirt with dark skinny jeans and a large brown belt. "Where are you going, Roxanne Weasley?" Anna teased, as Roxy bit her nails before replying.

"I just, well…"  
"Who is he?" Dom asked.

"Because the only guy you've ever stayed out with before is-"  
"Craig." Dom finished, looking at Roxy suspiciously.

"It's, er, Jamie."  
"Wrenshaw?" Dom and Anna asked in sync. Dom had stood up, and she turned to see that Anna was by her side and Roxy looked entirely ganged-up on.

"Yeah." Roxy replied, making for the door awkwardly.

"Er, no. Tell us everything; how long have you two been-?"

"Since today, ok guys, I'm a slut."  
"Today? Seriously? You sound like Dom!"  
"Hey!" Dom said stubbornly.

"Look, it's not really like that though-" Roxy began.  
"No, it's fine." Anna relaxed, pulling her shoes on her feet as she opened the door. "I won't know anyway, I think I'm going to Fred's."  
"Guess I'll be here on my own then!" Dom joked.

"Dom, I don't think you've ever been the only person in here."  
"I'm pretty sure you'll end up in Hufflepuff. You've not been there in a while!" Anna teased.

Dom sighed, opening the door and heading down the stairs with the other two following, laughing without realising that she wasn't joining in.

Having not been down into the common room all day, Dom hadn't seen it as it steadily got busier. Instead she was hit with the shock to the system that was a common room lined with children; they seem to have multiplied over the holidays, and Dom had to push her way through the crowd to get to her family.

"Hey!" She called when she could eventually see them all. They ignored her, as they were deep in conversation.

"They forced it out of me!" Louis protested, while Fred glared.

"He was a little outnumbered." Jake agreed.

"But how did you even- Dom did you tell Louis about Anna?" Fred asked, turning and acknowledging that she was stood there.

"'Hi Dom, you look nice, it's good to see you.'" Dom mimicked, jokily.

"Yeah, whatever; did you tell Louis?"  
"Yeah." Dom shrugged. "But it doesn't really matter does it? He would have found out anyway if she was pregnant, and she's not anyway so-"  
"But I had to write to my parents and tell them it was all a false alarm." Fred complained.

"Wait, Dad found out?" Roxy asked, having followed Dom down the stairs with Anna.

Fred looked up, glancing at Roxy for a little longer than was normal before nodding. "Yeah, he did."  
"What did he say?"

"Nothing. He was just angry." He sighed, shaking his head a little while the rest of the Weasleys and Potters looked at him confusedly. "Anna, you look beautiful. Want a drink?"  
"Yeah, I'll come with you."

"Me too." James stood up, and the three of them walked away into the crowd.

"I'm going to find that Lucy girl. Are you coming, Hugo?" Louis asked, before Hugo nodded and they walked away.

"I'm going to meet Jamie." Roxy said before leaving.

"Jamie who?" Rose asked, as Dom sat down in the now empty chair.

Rose and Maddie were the only two relatives left; Dom didn't know where Al was and she spotted Lily with Jake in the corner.

"Wrenshaw."  
"Really?" Rose gasped. "That's so cute; they used to hang out all the time in my first year-"  
"Yeah, well now they're doing a lot more than hanging out." Dom replied, sighing to herself. "Anyway, how was Malfoy Manor?"  
"It was alright, in the end."  
"Yep." Maddie nodded, pressing her lips together as if she was about to laugh.

"Shut it." Rose hissed.  
"What's going on?" Dom asked.  
"Madeline Fletcher if you dare say anything-"

"_Somebody, _mentioning no names, may or may not have done something _very _inappropriate with Scorpius Malfoy."  
Dom's mouth dropped. "Rose!"

"Well Al slept with Maddie!" Rose replied indignantly, before bursting into laughter with her friend next to her.

Dom just stared at her little cousin. She remembered when Rose had been tiny and Uncle George had made her laugh so much that she'd accidentally made her chair rise several feet into the air. She remembered how much Rose had complained when Hugo was born. She remembered when Dom had left for Hogwarts and Rose had cried at the train platform.

All of those were the actions of her little cousin; her little cousin who had grown up so much before her very eyes.

Dom didn't feel like she'd grown up; she was just as alone as she had been when she arrived at Hogwarts, she wasn't much cleverer and she still had no idea what she wanted or expected out of life.

Everyone else was moving forward, Dom wasn't going anywhere.

…

Lily shook her head, tiredly leaning against Jake's chest as she looked around the common room.

The last two weeks already seemed like they hadn't existed; they seemed like some weird drama-filled dream she'd had.

Now she was back; thrown into some weird party Fred was having to celebrate that Anna wasn't pregnant after all. She was instantly back to reality; the school work, the homesickness and the fame. She'd forgotten how weird it always was at school to have people treat her differently for her surname; fetching her drinks or complementing her hair when she'd never said a word to them before in her life.  
"It's good to be back." Jake said quietly. The two of them were sat on the windowsill, Lily's head leant against his chest, watching as the surrounding teenagers gradually became more and more crazy.

"Yeah." Lily lied, because it was easier.

The truth was that she liked it at home more; especially at the end of the holidays when she and Jake hadn't been hiding, even if her Dad was a lot tetchier about leaving her and Jake alone.

"Alright guys?" Louis asked, Hugo trailing behind him.

"Yeah, we're good thanks." Jake replied, Lily sitting up straighter so she didn't look quite as tired.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Louis replied, as Lily tried to work out how he could have gotten so drunk in just a few hours. He leant against the wall next to them, Hugo having decided to sit on the floor. "You know, I like you two together. Even though you're my best friend and you're my cousin, I think you're alright together."

"Thanks." Lily said sarcastically.

"But, I'm so glad we're back at Hogwarts because now I don't have to put up with you all the time!" Louis slurred.

"Yay!" Hugo agreed, raising his arms in a cheer.

Lily sighed, shamefully.

"Oi! Oi Lucy!" Louis yelled suddenly, standing up straight again and swaying a little.

Lucy Brown, a girl Lily knew of in the year above but had never spoken to, glared at Louis from the other side of the common room.

"Yeah, Lucy Brown! Come over here!" Hugo shouted, as Jake and Lily looked at each other confusedly.  
"What!" The girl demanded, walking over and folding her arms.

"How did you get in here, Lucy Brown? You're a Ravenclaw."  
"I was invited."  
"Oh yeah?" Louis laughed. "By who?"  
"Sibi Patil." She replied coolly.

"Oh." Louis nodded, looking even more dumb than normal. "Well you know what, I've decided I don't care that you hate us Weasleys, because I know we're the coolest family in the world. Everyone thinks so."  
"Not everyone." Lucy replied simply.

"Yes, everyone. Look…"

Louis stood up on a nearby table, flicking his wand so light flew from it and everyone's attention turned to him.

"Who here loves the Weasleys?" he yelled as he stood precariously on the edge of the table.

The surrounding kids yelled their approval. As they began to chant his surname, Louis stepped down from the table and looked pleased with himself.

"See." He said to Lucy. "You're just weird for hating us."  
"Maybe so." She nodded, turning away.

"Well you better get out of our common room then, because this is a Weasley's party!" he yelled after her almost desperately. She didn't reply, and simply faded away into the crowd.

Louis turned and punched the wall behind him, before wincing.

"Smooth." Jake said sarcastically, laughing again.

"Oh shut up." Louis replied, his eyes watering as he nursed his hand. "It's not like you've gotten every girl you've gone for."  
"Actually, yeah I have."

"That's because you've only gone for, what, six? And one of them's my cousin!"

Lily blinked, since she hadn't expected the conversation to turn so quickly. She'd known Jake had gone out with other girls; she didn't know there had only been five others. She felt a lot better about herself.

"Only six? Really?" Hugo tilted his head, looking out at the crowd. "Who then?"

"Well, there was-"

"Louis, do we really have to list them?" Jake asked, tilting his head towards Lily unsubtly.

"Yeah, go on." Lily encouraged. "I don't mind, Jake."

He nodded dubiously.

"So, there was Vicky Hibbins first, wasn't there? She was in third year, and then we swapped so you had Laura Thompson and I had Vicky. Then over summer you went out with that Ravenclaw. What was her name?"  
"Joanna Woolhouse."  
"That's the one. Then last year there was Natalie Hollings and Jessica Chen, and then there was that Hufflepuff Amy McCintosh, who I didn't even know you were going out with until I found her in your bed on the last day!"

Louis laughed to himself, while Lily felt her face fall.

Everything seemed to turn into slow motion as she turned to Jake and tilted her head.

"In your bed?" she repeated.

He bit his lip slowly, before nodding.

"Look, Lily-"  
"As in; you slept with her?" She asked.

"Yeah, Jakey boys not a virgin, didn't you know that?"  
"Louis!" Jake said angrily, turning on his friend.

"Don't blame him for telling the truth!" Lily commanded.

"Oh…So you didn't know. Oops!" Louis pulled a face that Lily would normally have laughed at, before skulking off into the crowd and commanding Hugo to follow.

Lily jumped down off the windowsill and turned to face her boyfriend, who's hands were scrunching his hair while his eyes glanced around nervously.

"You never told me!" She yelled, knowing that one or two surrounding people were watching them.

"Lils, I'm sorry-"  
"How could you never have told me?"

"It's not important."

"Of course it is." She shook her head, catching her breath and sighing. "You've slept with… What was her name?"  
"Amy."  
"What about the others? Did you sleep with them too, back in third year?"  
"No. O-Only Jessica."  
"So that's two. Two!"

"It doesn't matter, Lily, Louis' slept with like twenty girls-"  
"But you're not Louis. I thought you were different -"  
"I am."  
"No, you're not!"

Shaking her head again, she tried to let her brain catch up with her mouth; she was yelling at him without really thinking.

She told herself it wasn't that bad; that two girls who Jake messed around with didn't really matter, but then her brain seemed to whir into action again; he was her age when he slept with them. Younger, even. It made her feel ill just to think of it; he was fourteen for God's sake.

"Jake, you're my first everything; my first kiss, first boyfriend, first everything! And you know that, I told you that and you just never thought to tell me that you've already slept with two girls. That I'm the sixth girl you've added to your list-"  
"Lily, you're not like that."  
She decided not to listen, grabbing her drink from the table and walking away towards the crowd of Gryffindors.

"Lily where are you going?" Jake asked, getting up and running after her.

"I'm going to try and catch up with you." she replied angrily, before shrugging him off and walking further away.

He didn't follow her like she wanted him to; he just stormed away as if he believed what she'd said; as if he believed that she really was going to try and 'catch up'. If he really thought that, he didn't know her at all.

Or did he?

She knew it was wrong, but a part of her want0ed revenge on him. A part of her genuinely did want to match him on experience levels, so she didn't feel quite as stupid or childish or naive.

She drained the bottle in her hand, before heading towards the drinks table for another.

"You're the Potter girl aren't you?" Asked a voice from her side.

She turned to see a guy that she didn't recognise, who looked older than Jake and wasn't from Gryffindor.

"Yeah, I am."  
"What you drinking?" he asked.

"Anything." She shrugged.

He handed her a bottle, and she thanked him.

"Fancy dancing?" he asked.

She was about to shake her head, before she looked up and saw Jessica Chen stood in the corner talking to her friends.

Lily's imagination ran wild as she thought of the stunning fifth year with Jake last year, and she nodded at the boy in front of her.

And a glance to her left as she walked into the crowd of dancing teens showed her Jake's sad figure in the corner, staring at her emptily.

And if anything that just made her feel happier, in a twisted way.


	61. Accepting Change

Hey, I know I promised more updates than this, but I'll just apologise for the long waits but explain that they were/are justified. J

The alerts/favourites on this story are just incredible. The idea of 235 people looking forward to my updates is just awesome. As for reviews, well, over 1000 is more than I could ever aspire to, and probably more than this little story deserves! :L :P  
Anonymous reviewers: _HP Fan _(Thanks so much for reading it all, glad you like it and yes there shall be more James/Al I promise. Thanks for the review), _rednose_ (Thanks so much for the review, you're right about Lily and Jake, and Dom. Thanks again. J), _anonymous v _(Thanks for the review of the early chapters; the story must have taken forever to read and then to review certain chapters is just brilliant! :D), _PeacockGirl _(You're welcome, I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for answering the question; I love J&L too. You'll like this chapter…;) Thanks for the review) and _.. _(Perfect timing, I literally was just about to post this before you reviewed. Thanks for reading it all; you don't have to wait for an update at all :P). And hopefully, as always, the rest of you have been replied to- thanks.

Finally, I hope you like this chapter. I warned of drama and my God have I brought it. :)

Sorry for the long A/N.

_**Disclaimer: **__Let's face it, no one could have possibly written Harry Potter as beautifully as JK Rowling did. That's why it all belongs to her.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty One- Accepting Change)**

"Are we just really boring?" Al asked.

Rose shook her head hopefully, although she had a feeling this wasn't true.

She, Al, Scorp and Maddie were sat on the sofas in the corner of the common room, just watching as the other kids danced and sang along with songs loudly.

"Nah, not boring. Sensible."

"You sound like my Mother!" Rose complained at Maddie, who just shrugged and leant against Al again.

She knew this wasn't the way most sixth years behaved; in their sixth year James, Fred or Dom had never sat in the corner of a party.

Chants of her little brother's name came from somewhere in the centre of the crowd, and Rose leant her head back to peek between jumping teenagers and see what was going on; her brother was pouring a large bottle of firewhiskey down his throat.

She groaned.  
"We're the ones who are going to have to put up with him in the morning!" she complained as the rest of them nodded in annoyed agreement.

"I feel so old, you know." Al whined. "Where is everyone? James, Fred; they'd be entertaining."  
"I don't know about James, but Fred's gone upstairs with Anna-"  
"Ew. Dom?"  
"Not sure."  
"Probably with some guy."  
Rose nodded.

"Roxy?"

"I saw her leaving with Jamie-"  
"Wrenshaw?" Al interrupted. "She can't go out with Jamie Wrenshaw; he's the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain."  
"Yep, and Roxanne Weasley's love life has to be planned according to Quidditch!" Scorpius mimicked Al's panicked voice.

"Oh, shut up." Al said, annoyed. "Although she is kind of fraternizing with the enemy." He mumbled.

Laughing, the four of them turned back to the crowd who seemed to have settled down into a circle on the floor, an empty butterbeer bottle in the middle of them.

"See, Spin The Bottle is just so childish." Al remarked, folding his arms.

Rose nodded in agreement, watching as random kids kissed other random kids. She spotted Louis and Hugo, cheering and watching the bottle intently.

Bored of watching the game, Rose turned to Scorpius and smiled up at him.

"Wait, is that Lily?" Al asked suddenly.

Rose turned her head back to the crowd and saw, as Al had rightfully pointed out, Lily crawling towards the centre of the circle.

Before Rose had even had chance to speak, though, Al was on that side of the common room pulling his sister up.

Rose, Scorpius and Maddie were on their feet and stood beside Al quicker than lightening; suddenly they were in the centre of the party.

"Oh come on mate, you're ruining the fun!" The boy who had been crawling towards Lily slurred in Al's direction. "Lily Potter's really hot!" he turned to the boy sat next to him, who nodded in agreement.

"Oh for Christ's sake, where's James when you need him?" Al asked angrily, clenching his fists as he held Lily up, who was swaying side to side.

"Lily, what are you doing?" Rose asked her cousin slowly.

Lily laughed; the kind of drunk and angry laugh that Rose truly hated. "Rose, did you know I'm fourteen?"

"Lily, what are you on about? Where's Jake?" Al asked.

"Did you know Jake's _fifteen_?" Lily replied, her face straight as if this was a serious thing to tell her brother.

"Yes I- Louis, Hugo how could you let Lily get like this?" Al demanded, turning on his younger cousins and almost passing Lily to Scorpius.

"What? Lily's here?" Louis said suprisedly, as Hugo continued to look around confusedly.

"Oh, for God's sake." Al shook his head, looking around again. "Where the hell is Jake?"  
"He's not here." Lily said simply, leaning on Scorpius who looked down at her concernedly.

"Right, well, er-"

"Rose!" Lily turned back towards Rose, and smiled. "Did you know that some fourteen year olds have sex? And get really really drunk too? I've not done either of those things-"  
"Shall I just take her upstairs?" Rose suggested to Al, who was looking around completely hopelessly; it was clear to everyone that he really hated being the only older brother available.

"Yeah, please." He smiled at her appreciatively, and Rose took Lily's shoulders and helped her up the stairs.

Truthfully, she had never been as drunk as her little cousin was, who she had to open the door for.

This wasn't Lily; Rose knew that much. Something had happened that had made Lily do this, but she wasn't going to find out what that was tonight.

Two of Lily's dorm mates were already sleeping, which meant helping a heavy-footed Lily to get ready for bed was even harder.

It took about twenty minutes to get her little cousin to change and get into bed and shut up about how old she was. It was like having a daughter who stubbornly refused to sleep, Rose thought. She had to wait until Lily's eyes were completely closed to head for the door.

"You're really lucky, Rose." Lily whispered childishly once Rose had half opened the door.  
"So are you, Lily."

"You have Scorpius. You're luckier."  
"You have Jake."  
"I don't know if I want him."

Rose considered replying, or asking what she meant, but instead she shut the door.

The common room she returned was nothing like the common room she had left.

It was empty now, apart from hundreds of empty bottles and one person; Scorp was sat at the bottom of the boys' staircase.  
"Hey." He stood when he heard her voice.  
"Is she alright?" he asked, caringly. The fact he even gave a damn about her family made her heart consider bursting.

"Yeah, she's alright. I don't know what happened to make her like that though." She sighed. "Anyway, what happened here?"  
"It all kind of died after you two left."  
"Life of the party, me." Rose joked. "And Al and Maddie have-"  
"Gone to the Room of Requirement, to _'catch up'_."  
Rose squirmed, not really enjoying the thought of her cousin doing anything like that with her friend.

She turned, looking around the common room and thinking how much she missed Hogwarts. A part of her, though, the weird part of her that she didn't quite understand, missed Malfoy Manor as well.

She missed what Malfoy Manor meant to her, what she and Scorpius had made it mean; those few memories seemed to win over everything else that had ever happened there.

"I'm going to go to bed." Scorpius said quietly from behind her. She span around, to say goodbye, but he'd already gone up the stairs.

She couldn't help but think that things had changed, since they'd come back. The limitations of school and their friends meant they couldn't behave how they had just the day before; it meant that they were more awkward around each other than they ever had been before.

Pulling her wand out of her pocket, Rose tidied up the common room as best she could just for something to do; she was putting off going upstairs to her bed.

She wanted the bed from Malfoy Manor back; she wanted Scorp's arms around her again.

She decided to get what she wanted, school or no school, since everyone else seemed to be doing the same thing.

She went up the stairs to his dorm, not knocking on the door.

"Hey." She said quietly, shutting the door behind her. He was bent over the trunk at the end of his bed, putting his clothes away, but turned around when he heard the door.

"Rose, what are you-?"  
"Shh." She said simply, before walking forward and kissing him, trying to convince herself that things were still the same.  
"We could get into trouble." He mumbled.

"Yeah, so could everyone else."  
"But, you and I aren't really the rule-breaking type."  
"That's the fun of it."

She smiled up at him, as he smirked back down at her.

She was sure that, unfortunately for her poor brain that had to think of it, almost all of her cousins spent that night as she did; not in their own bed.

Al's bed wasn't as comfy as the one in Malfoy Manor though.

…

James and Dom sat and watched as the other kids gradually became stupider as the minutes went past; it was just funny.

"Remember when we used to behave like that?" Dom asked.

"Yeah, we were pathetic." James nodded.

He disliked everything about this this night; the music was too loud, the common room seemed too crowded, his best friend had abandoned him to be with his girlfriend, his brother and sister were back yet hadn't sad a word to him, his cousin had run off with his Quidditch enemy and, to make a bad night worse, he'd been caught completely off guard by the guy who slept with his girlfriend.

What was Roxy even thinking, inviting Craig? James thought it was selfish of her; she might be over the whole thing but he just wasn't. He was still angry and he was still hurt; he still wanted to beat Craig's brains out when he saw him sat on the other side of the common room.

He was quite proud of himself, for even trying to act civilly.

"Can we go somewhere where I don't think my head'll explode?" Dom asked, and James nodded. They left the common room as the kids began chanting Hugo's name.

"So, are you glad the holidays are over?" Dom asked as they walked down the corridors.

"Kind of. I'm glad to have the others back, but don't tell them I said that."  
Dom laughed a little. "Yeah, I won't tell them."

They sat down on one of the alcoves along the wall.

"This is our last term at Hogwarts. How weird is that?" Dom said quietly, as James turned and looked out of the window at the grounds, and saw the stars that twinkled above the school.

"That feels wrong. I don't want to leave."  
"I do." Dom shrugged. James turned his head, looking at his cousin with his eyebrows raised. "Because I think I've run out of guys at this place." Dom continued, laughing at herself.

James nodded, looking at her sceptically. He had a feeling that she didn't mean it; that the slutty part of her wasn't really her. But for as long as she pretended, he was going to pretend that she really was that person. He knew it wasn't helping her, he knew that she maybe didn't want him to believe her, but he decided that she needed to tell him to stop before he did.

"Especially now everyone seems to be all coupled up." James agreed.

Dom nodded, "Yeah, you're the only single Potter nowadays."  
"I don't think Al and Maddie are that serious though."

"What makes you say that?"  
"I know my brother." James replied honestly.

"I'd say they were pretty serious-"  
"Yeah, but they're no Rose and Scorpius, are they?"

Dom shook her head. "No, I guess not. Don't you think Rose and Al seem too young to be…? Never mind."  
"What were you going to say?" James quizzed.  
"Nothing." Dom squirmed.

"Tell me." He said, jokingly fluttering his eyelashes and tilting his head to the side.

"Ok, but you can't freak out."  
"I won't." James promised, knowing he probably couldn't keep to it.  
"Well, over the holidays Rose and Scorpius, er…" Her voice trailed away but James had already worked it out.

"No!" His mouth fell open, but he the anger he expected to hit him didn't come. "At Uncle Ron's house? God, he's going to kill them if he ever finds out-"  
"No, it was at Malfoy Manor."

"Are you kidding? I think that'd just make Uncle Ron angrier."

"Probably." Dom laughed. "But that's not all. Er, Al slept with Maddie. Last year, as it turns out-"  
"My brother's had sex?" James asked bluntly.

"Yeah."  
This one, for some reason, got him angry. And not angry in the my-little-brother-shouldn't-be-doing-that sense; he was angry in the my-loser-little-brother-had-sex-before-me way.

"Are you fricking kidding me? My little brother beat me to it?"  
"Yeah, I guess he did."

James jumped to his feet, heading back towards the common room.

"James, where are you going?" Dom asked tiredly behind him.

"I'm going to find a girl. There is no way Albus Severus is staying more experienced than me-"  
"Don't be stupid, James. You've deliberately waited for…" Her voice trailed away as James span around and stared at her.

"Exactly. She didn't exactly wait did she?" he yelled, no longer angry at his brother but now at Louisa. He continued to stomp towards the common room, Dom running behind him with difficulty in her high shoes.

"James stop! You don't want this, do you?" she asked desperately.

He stopped abruptly, so much so that Dom slammed into his back. "No, I don't want some random girl." He admitted.

Then he changed the direction in which he stomped, now heading towards the nearest staircase.

"James, where are you going?" Dom yelled after him, staying where she was.

"I'm going to tell her what she's done to me!" he shouted back.

Dom didn't follow him, which he appreciated. For the first time he knew what he was doing; he was happy that Louisa might finally see how much she ruined his life.

Because of her, his little brother was happier than he was. Because of her, he was sure that he'd never be happy again. Because of her and how insanely, pathetically in love with her he was, he was sure he'd never find a girl that would match to her; that he would die a lonely, pathetic old man while she lived the perfect head-girl life that she was destined to have.

He thought of all the things he was going to shout at her; he was going to finally make her see just how much she'd hurt him. After months of not thinking it was necessary or not wanting to hurt her, he was finally just going to yell at her.

He hit an obstacle in the form of the portrait outside the head's dorms. Or at least, he thought he had. But the knight in the picture simply looked him up and down before exclaiming "You're back late, Mr Cunningham!" and fading away.

James climbed through, if anything now even angrier that anyone could mistake him for Craig, even a stupid painting.

He jumped down at the other side, glancing around the room for Louisa. She wasn't in there, so he headed towards the door to her room.

It opened before he had got there, however.

She stood in the doorway. Her hair was messy and she was wearing no makeup, she had one of James' old shirts covering her and she was holding a book loosely in one hand. James thought she'd never looked more beautiful.

All thoughts of shouting at her had evaporated from his brain; all thoughts of making her cry or feel guilty seemed impossible now.

"James, what are you-"

He opened his mouth to yell, but he couldn't.

And instead of spilling his heartbreak to her by shouting uselessly, he told her how much she still meant to him.

By kissing her.


	62. Getting Involved

Hey everyone! So, as I warned you, my update took ages. However, here it is and I'm writing it despite having lost the electricity in the house (thank god my laptop's always fully charged) and having no heating and wearing gloves and three pairs of socks… *Descends into aimless whining* :L

So, thanks as always to reviewers, alerters, favouriters and readers. You're all superstars.  
Reckon you could get me to 250 alerts? I need three more.  
Thanks to anonymous reviewers: _ (Glad you like it, and yep more RS soon. And RJ. :D Thanks for the review, please keep reading and reviewing and thanks for reading the whole thing!), _poijhgfdty _(Nice name J and thanks for the review!), _HP Fan _(I'm glad you like the story, and haha no one's sure about James and Louisa. :L More Lily this chapter… Thanks for the review), _rednose _(Haha, sorry for the ending. I'm great at cliffhangers. As for Lily and Jake I agree completely, and I'm glad you like James and Louisa! Finally someone who likes them! Thanks for the review), _Alysa4eva _(Glad you liked it! OMG made me giggle. :L Keep reviewing, thanks. :D), _WhenItFallsApart _(1st I love your name- another story I've written is pretty much called that. 2nd thank you sooo much for the review and I'm glad you liked the story! :D) and _.. _(I'm so glad you liked the story. J Please keep reviewing and in return I will write!).  
I honestly hope I replied to the rest of you, but I'm so cold that my fingers kept slipping on the reply button! :S

Finally, before you read my next chapter and see the next twist in the Louisa/James saga, I have another question for you. Since I have now written the last chapter (Now I just have to fill in the gaps) I just wondered how you all want/think the story will end? Who should/will end together/apart happy/unhappy etc? It'd just be interesting to see if anyone predicts correctly…

_**Disclaimer: **__Darren Criss is on Glee tonight! :D But he's not actually Harry Potter. And in exactly the same way that he had no rights to HP when he wrote AVPM and AVPS, I have no rights to it now; it all belongs to JKR, that wonderful woman.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty Two- Getting Involved)**

Fred turned and looked at Anna, who was lying next to him with her head resting on his shoulder.

She truly was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and he'd seen some pretty beautiful things in his life; new born Rose, Lily… Even Hugo and Al. They were beautiful. And he'd seen some of the most amazing views from his broom that truly took his breath away. And Fleur's veela relatives? They could definitely be argued as beautiful…

But they were nothing compared to Anna. Even when her hair was messed up and her makeup had smudged, she was still everything he'd ever want.

He knew how lucky he was; he had Anna here, now, and some people spent their whole lives searching for their soulmates and never found them.

While thinking this, he thought of Roxy and Jamie. They'd surprised him, finally confessing how they felt and being together. And admittedly, he and James did have to do a quick "hurt my sister and you're dead" routine with Jamie, but they trusted him more than they'd ever trusted Craig; Fred had a theory that Roxy and Jamie were as meant to be as he and Anna.

He still couldn't look Roxy in the eye though, not since the letter from his Dad. Not that she particularly noticed, since she was still so mystified by Jamie, but he was still distant with her. His head instantly began debating whether or not to tell her every time he saw her; devil on one shoulder and angel on the other, but they didn't seem to know which side they were fighting for. He knew he should tell her, since he knew and she had a right, but he also knew that he should protect her, and telling her would only hurt her.

He even considered asking Anna for help, but he would feel even worse about telling Anna and not Roxy, so he was suffering alone.

He was just thankful he didn't have the baby issue to continue worrying about.

"I'm so glad you're not pregnant." Fred told her, smiling in the stupid way that he knew she adored.

"Believe it or not, I'm pretty glad too. God, can you imagine how ugly I would've looked all fat and-"

"You wouldn't have looked ugly. You can't." He replied, reaching across and playing with her hair.

"That was corny." She replied.

"I know, but it was true."

She moved her hand into his hair, running her fingers through it. Fred just smiled.

"I really love you, you know that?" she said quietly.

"I love you too."

She reached up and kissed him again, the two of them sure they were thinking the exact same thing; how grateful they were for each other.

"What time is it?" Anna mumbled.

Fred glanced at his watch on his dressing table. "3 in the morning."  
She smiled cheekily. "We don't need to sleep just yet."

Kissing again, the two of them seemed to sink further into the mattress, as if sinking into their own world.

Fred vaguely heard a door slam, but it seemed too far away to affect anything.

"Fred, I need to talk to you." James' panicked voice cut into Fred's little world.

"Bit busy right now, mate." Fred replied, raising his eyebrows jokingly at his girlfriend.

"No, Fred I really need to talk to you-"  
"James, I'm still busy."  
"Fred, I slept with Louisa."

Fred had a mental list of what James' big problem could've been; almost all of them included Louisa yet not one of them had been this.

He and Anna both sat up quickly, looking in James' direction through the thick red drapes around the bed.

"What?" they asked in sync.

Fred instantly reached for the nearest pair of trousers and climbed out of bed, pushing the curtains a little so that Anna still couldn't be seen but he could get out.

"You did what?" Fred asked James, as he threw Anna's dress to her through the gap in the curtains.

He walked around the side of the bed, to see James sat on the end of his own bed with his head in his hands. He wasn't lying; Fred knew this. His hair was even messier than normal, his shirt wasn't done up straight and he was missing a sock.

"Should I- Should I be congratulating you?" Fred asked.

James shrugged. "I guess. I caught up with my brother." He replied, humourlessly.

"Wait," Anna jumped out of the bed and pulled her dress down before standing at Fred's side. James didn't look at all surprised to see her. "Al's had se-"  
"I'm not sure that's important right now." Fred said quietly, looking at his best friend concernedly.

For someone who had just slept with the girl he was in love with, he didn't look particularly happy.

Fred remembered that he'd stayed up all night and happily watched Anna sleep on their first night together.

And then a thought came to Fred. "James, if you just slept with Louisa, why are you here?"

"I left when she fell asleep."

"What?" Anna asked, loudly.

"James, mate, you can't do that. She's going to wake up in the morning-"  
"And I won't be there, I know." James said simply.

"Can you imagine how she'll feel? It'll seem like it didn't mean anything to you-"

"Maybe it didn't." James told Anna. She shook her head, somehow looking completely unsurprised. Fred was surprised though; James was a lot of things, but he didn't use girls like that. "I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to wake up with her in the morning and I didn't want to talk to her. I just wanted out."  
They stood silently, Anna and Fred looking down at James confusedly and James just looking sorry for himself again.

"But you slept with her James. Doesn't that mean you're getting back together?" Anna asked simply.

"No. That's not what it means. I don't want to be in a relationship with her-"  
"Why not?"  
"I can't trust her." James replied to Anna.

"And she can really trust you after you abandoned her tonight?" Anna said angrily. Fred just watched; Anna seemed to have a better grip and perspective on the situation; Fred wasn't sure what was really happening or who he was meant to be mad at any more.

"It's not the same thing. She knows that tonight wasn't planned or-"  
"How does she know that? Did you tell her?"

"No."  
"James, did you actually say anything to her? Or just shag her and leave?" Anna asked. James didn't reply, just looked at the floor sheepishly. "Look, James, I know we're all meant to hate Louisa for what she did to you, but no one deserves to be treated like that!"

"Yeah, well then maybe we're even."  
"What?"  
"Maybe me and Lou are even now; we've both hurt each other-"  
"James if this was some sort of twisted revenge-!"  
"Of course it wasn't. I didn't plan to sleep with her, it just happened. I lost control for a minute, but now I'm back, and I know what I'm doing. I know that I can't go out with her, because I don't trust her. I can't trust her. I made a mistake tonight but it won't happen again."

James stood there, seemingly saying these things to himself. It was like he was trying to justify his behaviour in his head; Fred knew that James knew what was wrong and right and that he was trying to convince himself that he hadn't crossed the line.  
"I need to go to sleep." Fred said, rubbing his head and trying to let himself stop thinking.  
"Yeah, sorry for interrupting you two." James replied, turning towards his bed.

"It's fine." Anna replied, a little frostily. "Sweet dreams." She said sarcastically, before turning back to Fred's bed.

Fred smiled apologetically at James before following and climbing into his bed next to Anna and pulling the curtains around them. He stared up at the ceiling for a while. Anna and James' movements seemed to echo around the dorm; James shuffled every second or so while Anna crossed and uncrossed her arms.

He understood both of them; Anna had a right to be mad at the way James treated her old friend. At the same time though, it was nothing to do with her. It was nothing to with any of them; it was James and Louisa's problem and only theirs.

"You know I would never deliberately hurt her, don't you?" James eventually said.

Fred knew it wasn't aimed at him, yet he nodded in reply even though James couldn't see.

"I know, James. You just haven't done the right thing tonight." Anna said simply. Fred could practically feel her warming up to James and calming down.

"I never seem to." James replied.

The three of them laughed weakly, before saying goodnight kindly and turning over into their own dreamworlds slowly.

Fred dreamt that night of Anna. He woke up wondering if James dreamt of Louisa.

…

Hugo woke up to darkness.

He mumbled to himself confusedly, but the pain that the noise caused his head wasn't worth it.

He turned a little, to see that the darkness he was presented with was his pillow; he wasn't dead after all.  
The light of his dorm made him turn his face back into the pillow though, since it seemed to burn his eyes.

Closing his eyes again, he tried to piece together the night before, but drew a blank.

He decided to give in to a few more minutes sleep, ignoring the impulses in his stomach to throw up.

But just as his thoughts started to fade and he began to sink into the pillow, he heard the slamming of a door.

Groaning and regretting it, he closed his eyes tighter.

Then he heard the sliding of curtains, and knew that whatever was about to happen wasn't good.

"Morning!" Fred's chirpy voice exclaimed as loud bangs began around the room.

"Wh- Wha… No." Hugo whined, turning away from where he thought his cousin was and pulling his pillow with him.

"Up you get, Hugo!" James' voice teased, before he yanked the pillow from his hands and Hugo was forced to open his eyes.

The room seemed lighter than it ever had before, all the curtains were open and the boys had turned on every lamp. Right now all Hugo wanted was dark.

"Jeez, you look worse than Louis! I didn't know that was possible." Fred said, deliberately loudly. "By the way, I hope you don't mind testing a few spare fireworks do you?"

"Wha-?"  
Hugo didn't have time to speak before the room was full of banging, sparkling and whizzing fireworks.

"I hate you." Hugo mumbled.

"No, you hate alcohol!" James said, smiling cheekily.

"Anyway, we're just making sure you get yourself up. Quidditch practice this afternoon."  
Hugo looked at James and hoped he was joking. Just the thought of moving out of the bed seemed impossible, let alone climbing on a broomstick and hitting balls.

"See you soon!" Fred said chirpily, before practically skipping out of the room and down the stairs.

Hugo watched as the door swung shut behind them, and turned over. His mind and body seemed to debate whether to get up or not; his minding wanting to get ready for the day and his body just wanting to die.

His mind won, unfortunately. Hugo dragged himself up and out of bed, then got ready for the day as best he could.

He practically fell down the stairs a few minutes later, his feet not going where he told them to, and arrived in the common room especially heavy-footed-ly.

The common room was quieter than he expected; kids lay on the sofas in groups without saying anything. The entirety of Gryffindor seemed to be suffering together.

All except his older cousins; Fred, Dom, Roxy and James were talking deliberately loudly while Louis lay on the sofa next to them nursing his head.

"Oh look, it's another one of the cool kids!" Dom said sarcastically as Hugo sat down next to Louis, who looked up at him gingerly.

"How much did we drink last night?"  
"I don't know. I can't remember." Hugo replied.

"Wow, you can't remember? You rebels!" Roxy joked.

Hugo and his blonde cousin just groaned.

"Anyway, anyone seen Al or Scorpius? We need them for Quidditch practice too!"

"Hugo, since you were last to get here, go wake them up?"  
Hugo groaned at the prospect of getting up again, folding his arms stubbornly.

"We're going to play exploding snap down here." Dom said, smirking at Louis.

This changed Hugo's mind. He stood up quickly, making himself dizzy, and then rushed to leave before the bangs began.

"I'll come too!" Louis exclaimed, joining Hugo as he went up the stairs.

Hugo knocked on Al and Scorpius' door when they reached it.

There was no reply, but Louis opened the door anyway.

Hugo hadn't been in Al's dorm often, but he knew that they'd gotten lucky and shared the dorm between just the two of them. And he knew who's bed belonged to who.

So when he went inside and saw Scorpius pulling on a shirt stood next to Al's unmade bed while Scorpius' bed was perfectly made, he sensed something weird was going on.

"Hey." Louis said, not noticing any difference between this and the norm. "It's Quidditch practice this afternoon and James told us to check you're awake."

Scorpius nodded, glancing around awkwardly. "Ok. I'm awake."  
"Do you know where Al is?"

"No. Sorry." He replied before he raised his eyebrows. "Louis, are you ok?"

Hugo turned to see that Louis was far greener than he had been a second ago.

"No, I think I'm going to throw up." He sped towards the bathroom, but Scorpius jumped in front of him at the door.

"Use your own bathroom." Scorpius commanded, uncharacteristically, as Louis looked up at him confusedly.

"Erm, ok." Louis mumbled, before running out of the room and down the stairs.

Hugo was left looking at his sister's boyfriend confusedly. He shook his head, and turned to go back down the stairs.

He didn't know if it was normal for a hangover, but Hugo woke up a little while later on the sofa in the corner, unsure how he had ended up there or how long he'd been asleep for.

His other cousins had arrived, Al and Maddie sat squashed together on an armchair, and his sister was sat next to Scorpius opposite them.

Hugo turned his head to see that Louis looked far more awake than he had before.

"Afternoon."  
"What?"  
"It's one o'clock." Louis told him. "And hopefully you've now slept off the hangover."  
Hugo sat up, to find his head didn't ache quite as much. "How did you get rid of yours? Did you sleep too?"  
"Nah, that's a secret." Louis winked, before leaning back on the sofa.

"So, now Sleeping Beauty's awake; Quidditch?" James suggested loudly, standing up.

"How're you going to play without Lily?" Rose asked.

James turned his head, looking around. "Where is she?"  
"Still upstairs."  
"Why?"  
"She's ill. She got really drunk last night so-"  
"Wait, what?" Dom interrupted. "Lily got drunk?"  
"Yeah, ridiculously so. She was even worse than Hugo or Louis and-"

Hugo smiled proudly at himself at the idea that he hadn't been the worst the night before. But then he realised that he would maybe like to be worse than Lily, since it was so unnatural for her to even touch alcohol.

"Wait, so Jake just let her get like that?" James asked. Hugo recognised the look on his face; he was angry. He groaned, sure he and his hung-over head couldn't take the drama today.

"Er, I think she and Jake had an argument." Rose sighed.

"Do you know anything about that?" Fred asked, turning to Louis. Fred looked similarly angry to James; Hugo was used to James being the extreme one.

"No. I can't remember anything, so-"  
"She could've done anything!" James said, his voice getting louder with each word. "I trusted Jake to keep an eye on her and he just went and… He let her down."  
"Don't blame Jake-" Louis began.

"Well, who should he blame? Lily?" Fred asked, challengingly. He was asking Louis to choose between his best friend and his cousin; it was awkward.

"I don't know." Louis mumbled. "My head hurts."  
"Yeah, well Jake's head's about to hurt in a minute." James said angrily, starting towards the stairs.

"James, don't get involved!" Dom said tiredly.

"No, Dom, for once he's right. Jake was responsible for her and he let her get trashed. He put her in danger." As he said this, Fred stood next to James and the two of them stomped up the boys' stairs.

Hugo sighed, his headache having returned. This time, though, it was nothing to do with alcohol.


	63. Adapting

Me=horrible person. :L I am so sorry for promising more chapters quickly and then seemingly disappearing from the planet! I don't have any excuses other than writers block! I promise it will not happen again.

Big thanks to all alerters- I'm over 250. Incredible. And same goes for favouriters, or just readers. Thank you so much! If I get another 45 reviews, I'm up to 1500! I can't believe that…  
Anonymous reviewers: _HP Fan _(Yes, James is a bit like that isn't he? Thanks for the review!), _rednose _(Sorry, every story has to end sometime! I like your hopes for the ending though! And yes, you are right about James and Jake. And my electricity was fixed eventually, after my hands turned blue. Thanks for the review), and __(No name) _(Haha, no the drama never stops. And ah, I loved reading your endings! Thanks for reviewing!)!  
Hopefully the rest of my lovely reviewers have replies!

Anyways, so who's seen the new film? And Darren Criss in Glee! It's been a busy few weeks.

This chapter's pretty interesting, although a bit of a filler. The same goes for the next chapter (already written so not long to wait). The chapter after is a bit of a monster though, if I do say so myself. :P

_**Disclaimer: **__"Dobby did not mean to kill, only to maim or seriously injure…" These words aren't mine, nor is Dobby or, in fact, any of JKR's world.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty Three- Adapting)**

"Come on, Lily!" Dom's voice rang into Lily's dreams of cliffs and snow and cold…

"Lily, you really need to get up!" Roxy said urgently. They both sounded so distant, so far away that Lily was inclined not to care. She wanted to just stay in her dream, staring down at all the little people in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts…

"Lils, come on!" Lily felt hands on her shoulders, shaking her out of her dream world.

"What?" She snapped, her eyes slamming open to see her three female cousins leaning over her, Maddie and Anna watching on.

"Lils, I know you're hung-over but you seriously need to get up!"  
"I'm not hung-over!" Lily replied, before it dawned on her that this was a lie; her head pounded and everything from her toes to her fingernails seemed to ache.

"Look, just drink this and get up." Roxy commanded, passing her a small vial of potion.

"What is it?"  
"Poison, Lily." Rose replied sarcastically.

"It's a potion to make you feel better. Just drink it; you need to get up quickly."  
Confusion at the situation only just began to hit her; why were all her female relatives crowding around her and trying to force her to wake up? Wondering this, she uncorked the potion and threw it down her neck quickly.

Her headache suddenly got worse, the room span as she considered throwing up and her body felt like it had been set on fire. The memories of the last night seemed to flash on the back of her eyelids; she remembered everything that she hadn't been able to minutes before.

And then after only a second it all stopped; Lily felt as completely normal as she did every Sunday morning.

She sat up suddenly, and glanced at Rose who was sat on her bed. "What's happening?" she demanded.

"You need to go and help Jake out."  
"What? Why?"

She was still angry at him; she was angry and humiliated that he hadn't told her for so long. She was upset that he had just let her react so unbelievably pathetically; anything could have happened to her and all he did was sit and watch before buggering off to bed.

"Because James and Fred are about to kill him."

She sighed; she couldn't be bothered with even more drama entering her life. "Why?"  
"Because of how bloody drunk you got last night. They seem to think it was Jake's fault-"  
"Maybe it was." She shrugged, turning as if to go back to sleep.

"Lily! For god's sake what happened with the two of you?" Rose demanded.

Lily sighed, looking around at the group of concerned girls. She decided that she would rather watch Jake be yelled at than explain her embarrassment to them, so she hopped out of her bed and pushed past her cousins and down the stairs.

The common room was full of complaining teenagers, and Lily glanced down to see herself wearing her old polka-dot pyjamas. She shamefully continued straight up the boys' stairs past a first year who wolf whistled at her.

She continued up to Jake and Louis' dorm, where she heard raised voices.

When she reached the dorm, she stood on the other side of the half open door and glanced through, where she could see them but they couldn't see her. James and Fred were stood, arms crossed, staring down at Jake. However Jake, instead of sitting meekly and looking up, was stood up and staring right back at the two of them.  
"Look, it is not my fault if your sister decides to drink; I can't control her you know!"

"Well that's what you're meant to do!" Fred retorted.  
"No, my job as boyfriend doesn't mean telling her what to do!"

"It means looking after her!"

"I thought that was what brother meant!" Jake challenged back to James.

Lily's two relations looked furious, and James reached into his back pocket for his wand.

Lily decided that now may be a good time to show herself, before her brother killed someone.

She pushed the door open and it slammed behind her; all three boys span around. For a second it looked like James was going to curse Lily, but then he seemed to blink out of his daze and put the wand back.

"Lily, look-"  
"I can look after myself." She said simply. "I honestly don't need… Wait, no, I don't want you to _'control me'_."

"Look, Lils, he was meant to look after you-" Fred began.  
"No, I wasn't." Jake replied. He looked annoyed, and glanced up in Lily's direction and glared.

Lily felt angry at that; she wasn't the one who was wrong where the two of them were concerned.

"Look, James, for once can you just stay out of this?"  
"Lily I-" James began.

"I'll be at Quidditch in a minute." She said sternly; it dawned on her how much she sounded like her mother. Maybe that was why James practically dragged Fred out of the door.

"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday." Lily said simply, not meeting Jake's brown eyes.

"Yeah, you should be." He said plainly, turning away from her and sitting on the bed.

Lily stared at his back. "Aren't you sorry too?"  
"Sorry for what? You're the one who got drunk and threw yourself at every guy-"  
"I didn't do anything-"  
"Oh yeah, sure you didn't." He replied bitterly.

"How can you even talk about self-control when you've gone and had sex when you're only fifteen?"

Jake shook his head, not replying for once.

Lily smiled to herself; she'd won. "Exactly." She said to herself, before turning towards the door.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." He said, his voice more quiet and less angry.

"It's fine." She lied. She sighed, and turned back towards him instead of leaving. As much as she didn't like what he'd done, she wasn't ready to let him leave her life; breaking up with him would be like letting herself lose a race that she didn't deliberately start running.  
"Do you mean that?" he asked, standing up and looking at her honestly. "I kept meaning to tell you; I know it's a big deal and you shouldn't have had to find out like that-"  
"I'm sure. It's fine." She lied again, secretly wondering just how many times he slept with Jessica; wondering why they ever broke up; wondering if he secretly wished he was still in her bed…

"Really?"  
"Honestly." She replied, not meaning a word of it. "And I'm sorry about last night; I was pathetic and wanted my revenge but I don't anymore so-" She wondered if even that was true; did she still want to match his experiences somewhere deep down?

"So you didn't do anything?"  
"No." she shrugged, finally being truthful. "Rose took me to bed before I could do anything stupid."

He nodded. "I'm glad. I didn't like the idea of anyone else being near you."

She smiled at him. His words were the ones that would have made her weak at the knees just yesterday, now she just wondered if he'd ever said it to Jessica or Amy.

He bent down and kissed her when she didn't reply. She thought about how his lips had once been on Jessica or Amy's.

And she wondered if she was going to feel like this for ever or if it was, as she hoped, her initial reaction to the whole thing. She hoped she would get over it all and they would move on happily.

"We should go to Quidditch then." She mumbled, pulling away from Jake and heading out of the door.

He followed, since he was in the team too, and Lily wished he wouldn't; she didn't want to be around him at the moment.

She'd far rather be lonely at this moment, than have a boyfriend who she didn't trust any more.

…

Roxy stood in the transfiguration classroom, her arms crossed as she looked out at the prefects of Hogwarts. It felt weird stood at this side; she, Craig and Louisa seemed like the teachers to the kids opposite.

She felt intensely sorry for her teachers at that moment though; even the supposedly best students in the school were currently paying her absolutely no attention. Well, except for Jamie. Jamie was sat at the front, on the desk just a few metres in front of her, smiling supportively. But even Rose was sat at the back, gossiping with a Ravenclaw.

"Ok so, erm-" Louisa began quietly, tapping on the table lightly.

"Oi!" Roxy yelled impatiently. The prefects turned and looked up at the three heads, suddenly paying attention.

"Thanks Rox." Louisa smiled at Roxy, then seemed to rethink it and turned back to the sixth and seventh years. "So as you know the prefect duties change this term for the last time this year, so we're just going to read through what you're all assigned to…"

Craig began to read out a long list that he, Louisa and Roxy had written some weeks ago. The prefects sat and looked bored as this took place; Roxy would have thought none of them were listening if they hadn't had wolf whistled at the mention of Rose and Scorpius doing Saturday night corridor duty together.

"…So, I hope you all remember what you're meant to be doing. If there's any problems then you can always come and ask one of us and we'll help you out." Louisa said finally, before the prefects sighed and began to leave or returned to their previous conversations.

Roxy took a few steps forward and turned around, sitting next to Jamie on the table and returning to being a pupil.

"Good job of getting everyone's attention." Jamie laughed. "I noticed you got us the best duties; Monday night and Wednesday lunchtime."  
"Well, dating the head girl has some privileges." Roxy joked back.

He smiled, before replying "Well, that is the only reason I'm going out with you so-"  
Roxy hit him playfully, and he responded by tickling her ribs.

The two of them were completely absorbed in their flirty, childish world until they were knocked out of it by Louisa clearing her throat next to them.

"Hey, sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to say thanks for inviting me yesterday, Roxy." Louisa smiled hopefully, somehow making the shadows under her eyes even more obvious.  
"It's fine, Lou." Roxy replied kindly. "Even though you didn't come so-"  
"Nah, I didn't really feel like it."  
"Fair enough." Jamie shrugged.

"But thanks for the invite anyway, it meant a lot." She smiled again, before turning towards the door looking sad. Roxy turned to Jamie, who just nodded at her knowingly.

"Hey listen, Lou," she called after Louisa as Jamie stood to talk to a sixth year. "If you didn't go because you thought things between you and James would be weird then…"  
Roxy stopped talking as she saw the way Louisa's expression changed at the mention of his name.

She felt like she should stand up and hug her, but she couldn't bring herself do to so. Instead she just stood up and walked towards her a little.

"Louisa," she said quietly. "Did he say something or tell you not to go or-?"

She shook her head, tears rising into her eyes as she covered her mouth. "No," she mumbled, barely audible between her sobs. "No he didn't say anything."  
"Then what-?" Roxy refused to believe that Louisa was still so upset about something that happened months ago; something new must have happened.

"He slept with me!" She cried before giving into tears completely.

Roxy blinked back at her, "He what?" she asked, completely shocked with every part of her mind.

Louisa shook her head again, looking awfully lonely standing there and crying to herself; tears were dripping down her cheeks onto her shirt and Roxy could hear as she gasped for breaths between her sobs.

For seven years, this girl had been Roxy's best friend in the whole world. Roxy knew Lou didn't cry over nothing; Louisa barely cried when her grandfather died. From first to sixth year she had been the strong, silent, keep-your-feelings-on-the-inside type. And somehow, in the last year, she'd broken.

Because that was what she looked like, stood there sobbing alone; broken.

And yet, Roxy still couldn't bring herself to hug her. Instead she took out the chair next to her and pulled Louisa to sit into it.

"What do you mean?" Roxy asked dumbly and quietly; the room was still busy with gossiping prefects who had luckily not yet noticed their crying head girl.

After a few minutes to calm down, Louisa sniffed and wiped her glistening eyes. "He came in to my room really late last night, and I opened the door and he just kissed me. And then, well…" she sniffed again. "I was really stupid, wasn't I? I thought he might still love me and that we'd get back together afterwards, but…I must have fallen asleep because I woke up this morning and he was gone." Tears dripped from her eyes again, as Roxy stood up.

"He left." she repeated.

"Yes." Louisa replied, looking up at her. "But I deserved it, Rox. After everything I did to him-"  
"You didn't deserve it!" Roxy replied, angrily. "No one deserves that, Louisa."

"I do. Roxy, please, it's not a big deal-"  
"Of course it is!"  
"No, it's not. He must have been drunk last night so it wasn't his fault-"  
"Louisa!" Roxy said sternly. "He left you after sleeping with you! Did he even leave a note or-"  
Louisa shook her head. "Please don't say anything to him-"  
But Roxy wasn't listening. She grabbed her old best friend's hand and dragged her from the chair and towards the door. The room had emptied out since the conversation began; now the only other people left were Jamie and his Ravenclaw friend. "I know where he is." She told Louisa loudly as she opened the door.

"That can't be good." She heard Jamie say as the door swung behind her; minutes later his footsteps echoed down the corridor trailing hers.

"Roxy, what's going on-?"  
"James is an absolute-!" Roxy began, still pulling Louisa along.  
"Why, what's he done?" Jamie asked as he caught up.

"Roxy, please, I don't want to see him!" Louisa sobbed from beside her as she stopped walking abruptly and almost pulled Roxy backwards. Roxanne let go of her. "Please don't say anything-"  
"I have to, Lou. He has to know that what he did wasn't right-"  
"What did he do?" Jamie asked.

"He had a one night stand with Louisa-"  
"It wasn't a one night stand!" She cried. "Maybe he's going to come and talk to me later or-"

Roxy hated to be the one who dashed her hopes, but she had to. "He's not going to. He's not man enough."

Louisa shook her head. "Fine. Go." She said simply, before shrugging. "I just don't want any more drama-"  
"Then don't get involved with this family." Jamie told her, attempting at a joke but nobody laughed.

Roxy returned to storming through the corridors, Jamie followed and the two of them left Louisa behind.

They walked silently, Roxy huffing to herself about everything and Jamie just looking confused, all the way to the Quidditch pitch.

All of the team were in the air, even Fred who was throwing balls at the others.

"No Ravenclaws allowed on the pitch!" James yelled casually as he aimed at the goal metres above them.

"James Sirius Potter, get down here now." Roxy said, sounding relatively calm even though it felt like fiendfire was burning through her veins.

"Practice is another half an hour-"  
"Now!" Roxy repeated, loudly.

"Rox, calm down." Jamie said quietly from her side. She shook her head, staring up at her cousin as he flew down deliberately slowly.

"Roxy, what could possibly be so urgent that-?" James drawled.  
"What do you think you're playing at? Sleeping with Louisa and then leaving?"  
"Oh. That."  
"Yes, _'that'_." Roxy imitated him.

"Er, is it really anything to do with you?" James suggested hopefully, looking down shamefully already.

"It is when Louisa bursts into tears in front of me."

"Oh."  
"Yeah. So go on, explain." She commanded.

Above her, the Quidditch team were still practicing, but slowly getting lower so they could hear the conversation.  
"Look, Rox, you may be over what they did to us but I'm still not-"  
"So you slept with her, logical."  
"No, it wasn't like that. It was just-"  
"Revenge?"  
"No, I didn't mean to hurt her-" James said desperately.  
"But you did."  
"Are you going to let me finish a sentence?" James yelled, running his hands through his hair. "Keep practicing!" he shouted to the team above, who had given up all pretences of flying and were just hovering above them.

Roxy shook her head, still angry at her cousin. However, when she truly looked at him she had to question her anger; did she really have any right when she didn't understand the whole situation? She had no idea what James had been through, so maybe she couldn't tell him how to behave?

She still couldn't forgive him for being such an idiot though; over all the years, through everything, he had never been quite this hurtful to someone.

"Look, Roxy, I am sorry. But I can't fix it, can I?" He looked up from his shoes, sighing. "How can I fix it?"  
She shook her head. "I don't think you can."  
"Exactly."

The dilemma of the whole thing hit her; she was just watching from the outside to be actually involved in the situation must be breaking James' heart. He didn't want to hurt her; why would he? He didn't even mean to get himself to here; he didn't intend to ever speak to her again. Somehow he'd managed not to speak to her yet still break her heart. It was almost cruel.

"I'd sort it if I could." He sighed.

And she knew that was true.

"Ok." She shrugged, before turning and walking away again without another word, Jamie following her.

"Ok, so you were shouting at him one second then being nice the next. You're so hard to keep up with!" he complained.

"You'll just have to get used to it."


	64. Wishing You Weren't

Hey guys, so I'm updating a little later than expected, but I've had time to write a lot this week (what with pretty much the whole of England shutting down because of the snow…) so you can probably expect updates soon. However, my first job is to go through and improve previous chapters. Hopefully that won't take too long. No, wait, 64 chapters… That may take a while. I'll try and be quick…

Anyway, as always thanks so much for the alerts and favourites etc. The amount of readers of this story never fails to blow me away. I only need 9 more reviews 'til I'm at 1500… Incredible…  
Anonymous reviewers; _HP Fan _(Thanks so much for the review; that chapter was meant to be awkward! Hope you like this one…), _rednose _(Thanks for reviewing, I agree with your opinions on both Lily and James.) and _A True Dreamer _(Thanks for reviewing twice! I've replied to your other review! Hope you didn't actually pull your hair out!).

Hope you enjoy this chapter; I'm quite proud of it.

_**Disclaimer: **__I've now seen Harry Potter 7 three times and every time I see it, it reminds me of the following; Harry Potter and his whole world belongs to JK Rowling.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty Four- Wishing You Weren't)**

Louis stared up, his ceiling just as blank as it always was as the sun streamed uncharacteristically brightly through the curtains next to him.

He sighed; he was allowed to. It was the first of May. May was never good; May meant exams, May meant stress, but most of all, May meant the war.

It was as if the fact that the war had been real, and not just a story, hit the rest of the school in the weeks before 2nd May. And that meant that, somehow, Louis' and his cousin's surnames meant even more than they had for the rest of the year. For example, yesterday in potions, he'd had a textbook thrown at his head and been asked for an autograph. He'd pointed out to Kieran McMillan that he'd been sat in front of him for the entirety of the past year, and the boy had simply replied _"I know, mate, but… you're Bill Weasley's son!" _Louis had raised his eyebrows, almost feeling clever, whilst thinking of something Rose would say. _"And that's only just dawned on you?" _he had replied, before begrudgingly signing the book and throwing it back while Jake laughed at his side.

And this was only the beginning, because when the parents actually arrived for the memorial services today and the teachers began their alternative lessons on _"The sacrifices of 1998" _or _"How different things would be without Harry Potter", _somehow Louis was famous in his school; before he just felt popular. He didn't like it, at all; his surname normally worked to his advantage but for the past few weeks he had wished so badly to be Jake that it almost hurt.

It was even worse this year, for almost a hundred reasons which Louis listed to himself before he slept. This year, it was the 25th Anniversary; not just _'a few years'_, no, a quarter of a century had passed and that somehow made it an even bigger deal; plaques on the walls were cleaned until they sparkled at you almost attention-seekingly as you walked past and the war monument outside somehow seemed bigger when the grass around it had been pruned perfectly. This year, the parents would, as always, make their speeches to hundreds of visitors (there were bound to be even more this year) but also stay to watch the stupid Quidditch match days after. Louis thought that was stupid; they were there to mourn yet they were then going to celebrate as one team beat the other despite the supposed "_unity of the school_" only days later.

Most annoyingly though, this year, all the kids had their own problems going on. They didn't have the time or the energy or the mental capacity to completely throw themselves into memorials like normal; they all had exams, Lily and Jake were arguing more often than they used to, James was torturing himself over Louisa after not speaking to her once in the month since they slept together, Fred was panicking about his future after the end of school and some other problem that no one could fathom, Rose was caring for Scorpius as he panicked more and more about his surname and what it meant at this time of the year, Hugo was worrying about Lily, Al was panicking about pathetic Quidditch, Dom was throwing herself into revision with Roxy and Anna…And Louis? Well Louis was worrying about every other damn person.

The alarm clock that had been buzzing from somewhere in the room stopped, and Louis heard Jake groan as he rolled out of his bed along with the other two boys who shared their dorm. Louis just stayed, wishing to put off everything for a few more minutes.

"Weasley, are you getting up?" Jonathan Cartright asked from his right, while Andrew, to his left, dragged himself into the bathroom wordlessly.

Louis decided not to reply, he just closed his eyes.

He could practically hear Jake shaking his head at Jonners to tell him not to jump on Louis' bed and wake him.

Louis stayed, with his eyes tight shut, until his other two roommates had left for breakfast and only Jake was left.

"Louis, get up." Jake commanded, knowing he had just been pretending for all that time.

"Can I just stay here for-?"

A bell rang before he could finish his sentence, signalling that breakfast was open. And, as Louis had horribly expected, he heard a roar of footsteps from the common room downstairs as everyone ran to the Great Hall. They weren't hungry or anything; the war survivors were in school as of today's breakfast and everyone was racing to get the best seats, for the best glimpse of Harry Potter.

"We should move, shouldn't we?" Louis suggested, sitting up.

"_'We'_?" Jake repeated slightly mockingly as he stood by the door of the dormitory fully dressed. As always when memorial days neared, everyone fixed their uniforms to look perfectly smart; even Jake had repaired where his tie had ripped, and he'd met Louis' family before.

Louis groaned for a final time, before reluctantly speeding around the room and pulling on his uniform; he looked completely scruffy next to Jake and he was tucking in his shirt while they ran through the empty corridors.

Thankfully, they weren't late into breakfast; they managed to catch up with the rest of the school who were crowded at the doors; people were walking in and staring at the empty head table instead of going to sit down. Eventually, though, the two of them reached the Gryffindor table.

He should have remembered, really, that the family didn't sit in the middle of the table like normal at this time of the year; they sat near the front end of the Gryffindor table to be nearer to their family and other survivors, for whom there was another table placed in front of the Teacher's table.

He sat next to Rose at the table, Jake at his side even though there was an empty seat next to Lily.

His cousins weren't chatting like normal, and this wasn't because they were stuffing their faces with food; there was no food yet. They were just quiet; horribly smart-looking and quiet.

"Fix your hair." Dom commanded; the first word anyone said to him after almost five minutes of sitting in silence while the rest of the school buzzed with excitement.

He did as he was told, not feeling like picking a fight with his bossy sister today.

It dawned on him that every other year the memorial hadn't felt this horrible; not to him anyway. So if he, the person who arguably cared least, could be this upset over it all, he hated to think what his other cousins were going through; he turned to his right and saw that Rose's hands were shaking on her lap and Roxy was chewing her nails furiously. Fred was tapping his foot restlessly on the floor, while James just stared unblinkingly at the currently empty table.

Truly, the next two days were going to be torturous for them all, and they couldn't even find the words to speak to each other.

The rest of the school hushed when McGonagall stood, her robes completely black instead of the usual sparkle of emerald green.

"Good morning, children." The headmistress said importantly. "As I'm sure you're all aware, tomorrow marks a quarter of a century since the Battle Of Hogwarts took place and Tom Riddle was slain. Today, tomorrow, and some for the remainder of the week, we shall be joined by several people who were deeply involved in the victory of the 2nd May. I trust you shall all treat them with the uttermost respect while we are joined in the remembrance of those difficult times." She nodded her head as she finished this sentence, and then the door at the back opened and Professor Longbottom stepped through. Louis knew that he'd been given the option of sitting with the teachers or the rememberers, and he'd chosen the latter only for this year. Applause began to rattle around the room as more people stepped through the door and into the room's view; Luna Lovegood, Katie Bell… And then his Uncle George stepped into the hall, and Louis heard movement from behind him as the children who had been sat, clapping politely only minutes ago were stood, craning their heads for a better view.

Uncle George was first, keeping his head low; he hated the attention at this time of the year, followed closely by Aunt Angelina. Then there was Louis' father and mother, the applause rising steadily with every new face in the doorway. Then Uncle Ron and Hermione appeared, holding hands and looking as if they'd just debated who went through the door first. What was an applause turned into cheers; Louis watched as Hugo stared into the wood of the table deeply.

Louis didn't even have to look up to know that Harry Potter had walked through the door finally with Aunt Ginny; the cheers turned to screams and yells of appreciation; everyone around the ten of them stood to applause properly. Reluctantly, the Weasley and Potter children stood aswell, clapping tiredly.

Louis couldn't help but wonder if this really counted as _'treating them with respect' _as McGonagall had put it. They were being treated like rock stars, not war heroes. And Louis knew that they all hated it; they didn't want these days to be a time of fame, just a time to remember all of the horrible things that had once happened.

"Why do you reckon they applaud?" Louis heard Rose ask Roxy opposite her. "Because they feel like they have to?"  
"No, because they don't know what else to do to show how much they appreciate it." Roxy replied, as the applause continued long after Uncle Harry had sat down.

The children sat again; Louis turned and saw his Dad looking down at him and smiled a little. Inside, though, he had never wished more that he wasn't related to him.

…

Lessons were running as normal, even on the day before the biggest memorial service Hogwarts had ever held. So James still had to drag himself from the horribly awkward breakfast to charms, where the entire hour-long lesson was spent with the pupils discussing the war between themselves, Fred and James were sat at the edge and occasionally yelled at for more information like _"Your Uncle's Patronus is a Jack Russell isn't it?"_. James was sure they should be spending their time revising, not gossiping about the past.

His horrible morning didn't improve; he spent his free lesson avoiding the sixth year Hufflepuffs, and his defence lesson was spent hearing excerpts from this week's Daily Prophet or Witch Weekly.

By lunchtime he found that he, and his cousins and siblings, had already had enough of it all. They didn't even go to The Great Hall for lunch; they stayed in the common room on their own almost silently, all feeling sorry for themselves.

The worst part of the day was that none of them had had a chance to say a word to their parents, even though they were all in the same county for the first time in months. They were busy; busy visiting survivors or comforting relatives of the deceased. And since they didn't stay in the Gryffindor tower, but instead in a few renovated classrooms on the sixth floor, their children didn't know when they were free or not.

James stood and fled the common room before the bell rang, hoping to get a seat in the furthest corner of the greenhouse so as not to be too involved in everyone's conversations again.

As he stormed through the corridor, though, he looked up from his feet to see piercing blue eyes looking up at him.

"James." Louisa said calmly whilst pulling on her sleeves.

"I really don't have time for this right now-" James began to walk away, but Louisa shouted after him, her voice echoing through the silent corridor.  
"James you have to talk to me sometime!"

"No, I don't." He replied, shaking his head and not turning around to look at her.

"Oh, so it's easier to avoid me for months, is it?" She demanded.

He sighed; it wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her; it was that he didn't know what to say. And that every day he put off talking to her just made it a little bit harder.

Turning to look at her, he saw that she was staring up at him with determination. She didn't look apologetic like she had during the Easter holidays. Maybe because she didn't have anything to be apologetic for; she and James were definitely even now.

Her hair was longer than it had been last time he'd seen her and he could swear she'd changed her perfume. He hated himself for hating that he hadn't watched these changes take place.

"James, you can't tell me it didn't mean anything to you. I know you, and I know when you're lying."

He nodded, still looking at the curls of her hair. "Yeah, ok, it meant something to me." He admitted.

Instead of a reply, like he was expecting, she just smiled and turned away from him.

"Wait, you're not even going to say anything?" He yelled after her as the bell rang.

Teenagers spilled down the corridors just a second later, as Louisa turned and raised her eyebrows at him.

"No." She smiled again, before walking through the now full corridors away from him.

He sighed, before hearing a girl shriek behind him.  
"For Merlin's sake it's Potter!" A boy exclaimed loudly.

James sighed, turning around and preparing to tell every child in the corridor to get lost if he had to.

It turned out that he wasn't the Potter they were talking about, for a change.

His Dad was walking towards him, the crowd parting before him as he did so.

"Dad." James grinned. The corridor went silent, the kids stopping mid-sentence as if they'd been petrified.

Harry Potter smiled back and then stood straight in front of him.

James was taller than his Dad, he was quite proud of that.

The entire corridor was watching them silently, so Harry tilted his head at the door. "Let's walk."

"Dad, I have to go to Herbology." James replied, walking towards the door with his father regardless.

"I'm pretty sure Neville'll let you off for this one." His Dad replied. "Although, don't tell Hermione."

"Deal."

The two of them walked away from the grounds towards the Quidditch pitch, followed by one or two stalking fifth years for about five minutes.

"It's good to have you here, Dad." James said eventually.

"That's a lie." His Dad smiled, his green eyes sparkling in the sun. "It must be horrible for you guys to have us around."  
"No, it's just horrible that you have to come back at such a sad time." James replied honestly.

Harry nodded, and James looked up at his Father before asking the question in his head.

"Dad isn't it hard, coming back every year?"

His Dad smiled. "Yeah, it is. Because it's not really my school anymore; it's yours. I feel like I'm spying on you."

The two of them laughed, just a little. It was as if they couldn't laugh properly; both of them knew they were only together because so many people had died so many years ago.

"You're not, are you? Spying on us?" James asked.

"No. Not deliberately, but you pick up on things. Even just watching you at breakfast this morning-"  
"Yeah, well we were all horrible to each other this morning. Normally we're more talkative and-"  
"I understand." His father smiled at James attempts at justifying the morning. "But Lily and Jake seemed pretty distant-"  
"Yeah, they have been for ages." James replied. They sat down on the bench next to Hagrid's abandoned hut.

"But Albus and Rose-"  
"They're better than ever." James replied. "We hardly ever see them anymore, the amount of time they spend in their dorms or in the room of requirement-" He realised what he'd said, but it was too late. He watched as a terrible look of understanding crossed his Dad's face.

"Wait, so Rose and Scorpius have also-?"

"_Also_? How do you know about Al and Maddie?" James interrupted his Dad.

"Al told me." He shrugged. "But Rose-"

"You can't tell Uncle Ron."  
"Why would I tell Ron? He'd break the nearest person's nose and if I told him that would be me."

James laughed again.

He found it easy to speak to his Dad. Almost too easy; it was like he was speaking to Fred and he forgot what his Dad should and shouldn't know.

"What about you?" Harry asked his son seriously.

"What about me?" James replied, fake dumbly.

His Dad had a lot of faith in him; his Dad seemed to believe that he was a nice person. James wasn't prepared to tell him the truth; that he wasn't a nice person at all.

"You've not-"  
"No." James shook his head, lying. Then he sighed, and stood up. "Al has a free now. He'll probably want to see you. Fancy a trip to Gryffindor tower?"  
"Of course." His Dad replied, standing.

The two of them walked back to the castle in silence, James following his Father. Harry Potter was honourable and respectful and kind; everything James Potter would never be.


	65. Everybody's Hurting

Hey everyone, so sorry for the ridiculously long wait, but I have been writing. I have some things for you to check out:  
a) This chapter. The next one will be on it's way very quickly and I hope you like it.  
b) I've improved every chapter of this story, so if you ever have a few hours (or days) to spare I'd love it if you would read it again. My old chapters have vastly improved from what they were, and I hope you like them.  
c) My new fic. It's a four part story called _The Book For The Future, _and covers four different generations of Hogwarts including Rose and Scorpius. Think of it as a late Christmas present to any of you who have ever read/reviewed/alerted/favourite this story.

So yes, for once I have a legitimate excuse for my late update. J

As always, thanks to anyone who alerted, reviewed, favourite or just read my last chapter. Anonymous reviewers: _HP Fan _(Thanks very much, your review was lovely. I hope you enjoy this; keep reviewing!), _Mashmallow135 _(Thanks for reading the whole story. J Glad you liked it and I agree things do need to pick up for James and Fred. Keep reviewing!), _Just Imagine _(Your review was lovely aswell. Really lovely. Thanks so much, keep reviewing), _Lizzie _(Thanks so much for the review; sorry for distracting you from your work!) and _Yellowsea25 _(Firstly, I know you're not anonymous but I can't PM you in reply and I really wish I could because your review is just sooo incredible. Like, amazing. I was sat grinning to myself the whole time I read it, it was lovely! Please please please PM me if you make it so I can PM you in reply, and I swear I'll just babble at you for ages!).  
Hopefully I replied to all the other simply incredible reviews I got for that last chapter; I can't tell you how much they mean to me. J

Please keep reading, enjoy and r&r this story and my others. Thanks for sticking with me guys.

Also, happy birthday to DecemberDove, who's sister MagicalSingerGal PM'ed me asking for an update in time for her birthday and I just couldn't manage it… I'm sorry! L

Sorry for the long AN…

**_Disclaimer: _**_Harry Potter isn't mine doo-dah doo-dah.

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty Five- ****Everybody's Hurting)**

_The following pupils are permitted to sit at the front of the memorial service, with one guest per person:  
James Sirius Potter  
__Albus Severus Potter  
__Lily Luna Potter  
__Rose Weasley  
__Hugo Weasley  
__Fred Weasley  
__Roxanne Weasley  
__Dominique Weasley  
__Louis Weasley_

Scorpius stared up at the notice on the board in the corner of the common room, blinking simply.

_One guest per person_;He bet whoever wrote that hadn't been thinking that a Malfoy would be one of the chosen guests. The son of a death eater probably wasn't the ideal company to sit at the front and listen to lists of names of people who'd died; people who'd given everything to fight what his own family had forced on the world.

He shook his head, sitting down on the bench by the bottom of the stairs to the boys' dorms.

It was half past five in the morning; in less than half an hour he could expect people to begin to move upstairs, unable to pretend to sleep anymore. The currently deserted common room would flood with teenagers who, for one day of the year, weren't their usual loud, gossiping selves. The common room was always horrible on memorial day; the whole school was. For that one day of the year everyone was mourning; mourning for their relatives, people they didn't even know, or just thinking of what could have been.

Scorp's black dress robes were hanging on the back of the door, over the top of Al's, someone who actually deserved to be upset on a day like this.

Scorpius hated himself for feeling so unbelievably sorry for himself; it was worse this year than it had been any year before. Everything was worse this year.

Last night, for example, the sixth years were invited to a talk with a famous magical historian, Mr Alderton, whose books Rose and Scorpius practically worshipped. He'd been excited for it, until he'd sat down and listened to only a few minutes of it and realised that everything he'd hated about himself was about to be relayed to him in detail.

_Within one hour, his own surname had been said twenty-four times by the little man in front of him; his house had been mentioned ten times and his own father had been discussed three times already. Rose had been sat next to him, holding his hand tighter with every mention of "Malfoy", while Al on his other side occasionally smiled at him sympathetically._

"_The year previous to the Battle of Hogwarts is one full of intrigue about Tom Riddle's whereabouts." Mr Alderton continued. "Although he is known to have murdered Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance, his exactly location is, to this day, unknown. However his influence is still shown primarily through Draco Malfoy, who, as a scared and impressionable teenager, was instructed to kill Albus Dumbledore…"_

_Scorpius shook his head, turning to see that, while the majority of students were staring open mouthed at the historian as they heard facts that they'd never heard before, a few students were staring down at him. _

"_You don't have to stay." Rose leant over and whispered in his ear. "You can go if you want, I know this is hard."  
Scorpius nodded, pleased she understood, before putting his hand up.  
"Excuse me sir, please may I go to the toilet?"  
The man looked up at him, tilting his head to look at the people either side of him. When he seemed to see that Scorpius was sat in between a Potter and a Weasley, he nodded._

"_Absolutely. May I ask your name?"_

"_Scorpius Malfoy." Scorpius mumbled in reply._

"_Oh." Mr Alderton made a small, surprised sort of noise, before shrugging. "Well, you don't have to return at all if you don't want to." _

_Scorpius nodded understandingly; he was being asked to leave. He did as he was told, too used to the prejudices against his surname to really care anymore, and picked up his bag._

_Rose wasn't the same as he was though; she wasn't as used to the hatred Scorpius received when some people heard who he was. She stood up angrily, her arms crossing instantly. _

"_Just because he's a Malfoy doesn't make him a bad person." She said sternly, her eyes narrowing. _

"_Miss Weasley, I didn't say it did." The historian replied, looking taken aback and starstruck at the same time. "Now if you wouldn't mind, could I please continue with my lecture-"  
"What, so you could tell us more about how there was bad and good and nothing in-between?" Rose demanded. "Your whole view on this is so biased-"_

"_Miss Weasley it is understandably biased. It's a choice between good and evil, a choice which I would assume you have made yourself-"  
"You don't seem to understand that not everyone was on the 'evil' side because they wanted to be!"_

"_Everyone made a choice, Miss Weasley. Your relatives made the right ones, other people," he glanced in Scorpius' direction, "did not."_

_Rose shook her head furiously, grabbing her book and kicking Al in the shin. Al and Maddie stood and then all of them, with Rose leading, stormed down the row of chairs towards Scorpius and out of the door, leaving stunned students and an equally stunned lecturer behind. _

"_That man was horrible!" Maddie exclaimed as they stormed through the corridor._

"_Horrible? He was despicable; talking about the fight for equality and then treating Scorp like that-" Rose ranted for a long while as they went up the stairs, Al and Maddie chiming in with their agreements._

_Scorpius just followed, watching them and listening. And thinking that, if his father had won in the war, all of them would be dead. Their parents would be dead, Maddie wouldn't be allowed to be a witch, Gryffindor ties wouldn't be hanging from their necks as only Slytherin would exist, and they would be being taught about the muggle world in a completely horrible way. The worst bit would be that Scorpius wouldn't even know it was wrong._

"_Scorpius, are you ok?" Rose asked, turning and looking at him. Al and Maddie stopped and turned too, their heads tilted._

_He couldn't speak, he only shook his head. Rose shooed Al and Maddie away and walked towards him, reaching out for his hands. _

"_Scorp-"_

_He shook his head again. "Don't."_

_She sighed, before squeezing his fingers and stepping towards him. "You're nothing like your Dad, do you know that? Your nothing like any of them; you'd never do what they did. You're a good person, Scorp, please remember that."  
_He was trying to remember that.

He was struggling to remember that.

He looked at the list on the notice board one more time, before shaking his head and leaving the common room that he didn't belong in today.

It made him feel ill, the idea that there was a room open on 2nd May for pupils who chose not to attend the memorial service, but today that was where he belonged.

Hours later, the classroom wasn't much fuller than it had been before. Scorpius still sat alone at a table, while in the corner six or so Slytherins sat and laughed. Paige Parkinson was one of them; when she'd first walked in she'd grinned at Scorpius and said "_Glad you've finally decided to join us_."

That made him feel ill as well.

He didn't speak a word to any of them, just watched the clock tick the minutes past. By now Rose would be awake, looking around for him, while Al was inevitably angry with him for betraying her. Rose would understand, but that didn't make Scorpius feel any better about himself; he had still let her down.

They would have eaten breakfast silently already, and would by now by pulling on their black dress robes, the girls tying their hair up simply and forgetting makeup out of respect and functionality.

At ten, Scorpius realised that the Weasley and Potter children would now be meeting with their parents, awkwardly apologising for losses that they couldn't rectify. They'd be leaving to sit outside by the memorial statue in half an hour or so, then the speeches would begin and continue into the afternoon. Everyone would have the afternoon to themselves afterwards which, in the case of Gryffindor, meant sitting almost in silence in the common room and thinking.

The Slytherins continued to laugh behind him, throwing paper at each other and gossiping about the rumours around school. Scorpius hated them all; they were sat in here out of choice, deliberately disrespecting the dead.

They stopped laughing when the door to the classroom slammed open. Scorpius barely looked up, expecting it to be another son or daughter of a surviving death eater.

He was wrong, however, because a few seconds later he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into piercing green eyes.

"Come on, Scorpius." Harry Potter said to him simply, tilting his head towards the door.

Scorpius wordlessly obeyed, and followed Mr Potter out of the classroom and into the abandoned corridors. Even the people in the paintings were sat silently, remembering, or had just vanished all together into another's portrait for a better view of the memorial service.

"Why were you in there?" Harry asked him, turning in the corridor to face him. He didn't look angry, he just looked like he wanted answers.

"I-I just thought it would be disrespectful to go the memorial service, sir." Scorpius replied. It was the first conversation he had ever really had with Al's Dad, and it felt immensely inappropriate to be speaking to him today of all days.

"But you've been every other year?"

"Yes, sir. But this year Rose wants me up at the front with her, and I can't do that." Scorpius explained honestly. "I don't fit surrounded by Weasleys and Potters at the best of times, but especially not today."

Mr Potter nodded his head. "I understand, Scorpius, but I think you're wrong. You have just as much right to be there as everyone else-"  
"But my Dad-"  
"Your Dad was a lost teenage boy. He was barely older than you, Scorpius, and he had no other option if he wanted to survive." Harry's eyes seemed kind, and honest. And Scorpius couldn't process how he could speak of his father so understandingly; twice had Harry saved his life and not once had Draco Malfoy acknowledged it.

"I know you must get a million and one people saying this to you today, but thank you." Scorpius said what he was thinking to Harry Potter. "Thank you for saving my Dad, and I don't just mean physically saving him."  
"You're welcome, Scorpius." Mr Potter replied. "In return, please will you look after Rose for us today? I genuinely don't think she'll get through today without you, and if you don't turn up in a few minutes her father will murder you, memorial day or no memorial day."

Scorpius smiled, before following Harry Potter down the corridor.

The man walking in front of him changed the world, the least Scorpius could do was show his appreciation.

…

On one side, Al had Lily's hand clasped in his. She was crying, tears pouring down her face furiously. On his other side was Maddie. Her eyes, unlike every other girl on his row, were completely dry.

While Lily, Rose, Roxy and Dom wiped their eyes, Maddie just stared blankly. Al understood that everyone was allowed their own way to grieve, but he couldn't help but feel annoyed at her; it was like she didn't care as much as the rest of them.

Why he was distracting himself with the behaviour of the girls around him, he didn't know. It was easier than looking up at his parents, or his grandparents, or his aunts and uncles or Teddy and Victoire, who sat in front of him with the memorial statue shining behind them.

It was also easier than listening for names he recognised in the long list of the dead that Professor Longbottom had this year been given the privilege of reading. The list had already been read for over fifteen minutes, and he'd only just vaguely registered his own grandfather's name.

"James Potter, Lily Potter, Christine Child…"

The list moved on to the twelve muggles killed by Pettigrew, then onto Bertha Jorkins and Frank Bryce… The list continued. Innocent people that were murdered for nothing.

Al understood why the girls were crying. He thought he would be if he didn't feel the necessity to stay strong; if not for his sister or cousins then for his father and mother.

He sat and stared at the floor as Professor Longbottom continued to read; surnames he recognised within the school caught his ear as if he'd never heard them before.

Professor Longbottom was onto Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks within another quarter of an hour; Al looked up to see Teddy's eyes shining as he looked at the memorial statue and their names glowed.

Teddy had already spoken today; briefly speaking of his childhood without his parents and how despite having missed them he'd always known even as a child that they'd died for a reason. Uncle George had spoken too, about losing Fred, as had Al's Grandmother and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. Headmistress McGonagall had spoken of her appreciation of everyone in the war, acknowledging the loss of hundreds of innocent children. Minister Shacklebolt had thanked the members of the Order of The Pheonix, whether dead or alive… Over twenty speeches had taken place within the last three hours and Al wasn't sure he could listen to the word dead again without jumping up and storming away.

There were new additions to the list this year; Frank and Alice Longbottom who had given up their fight for life this year, and Aberforth Dumbledore.

Professor Longbottom finished reading, then bowed his head as everyone stood.

They knew the drill, Al had done it 17 times already; row by row everyone got to their feet and stayed there.

It was a new type of silence; there weren't even names being read out any more. There was just a silence full of horrible thoughts. Even the centaurs at the back stopped scraping their hooves; merpeople surfaced in the nearby lake with only small ripples. The girls stopped sobbing, the boys stopped pulling at their shirt awkwardly. Everyone stood still, everyone stood silent; everyone was completely united for a whole seven minutes.

"And now, to conclude this year's twenty five year memorial service, I would like to ask Mr Harry Potter to speak." Neville stepped down from the podium, and Al watched as his father stood up.

The thousands of people; pupils, mourners and adults alike, who had been silent just minutes ago suddenly broke out into cheers.

Al and his family only applauded, while behind him people stood on chairs for a better view or yelled their thanks. He turned his head to look down at Lily, who smiled next to him looking proud. Leaning forward, he saw that James had leant over to look at him, wearing the same expression of pride.

"Thank you. Thanks." His Dad sighed, looking around awkwardly from the speaking podium in front of the memorial statue. He cleared his throat, before reading from the piece of paper laid in front of him as the screaming died down. "Twenty five years ago today, many lives ended. Not just of those who died, but also of those who were left behind. Many people are still left with scars that time will simply never heal. Sons lost fathers, daughters lost mothers, brothers lost sisters, twins lost twins, friends lost friends; the world was truly never the same. So many people were lost that for some the world can never be the same. But in a world that is now peaceful, it is important to look forward; while missing the things we have lost we should also appreciate the things that we did not lose. Appreciate the things that we found or that we gained. Appreciate that now, in this world, what someone's surname is does not dictate who they are friends with. The magic in someone's blood does not force them into a certain house. The past, although it may trace back for generations, although always in our minds to learn from, does not affect the future. By allowing ourselves to judge by blood or surname or belief we allow the past to repeat itself. In this world, we shouldn't allow prejudice and in this world, we shouldn't allow one single person to live their life having never known what love is. Bitterness when we look into the past breeds hatred; hatred infects our minds and allows us to forget what is important. We should never forget that everyone in this world strives for happiness. We should never forget that everyone in this world strives for love. But most of all, we should never forget the thousands who died to permit us love and happiness and peace. We should never forget."

The cheers began again, and Al watched as his Dad nodded modestly and sat back down.

"Aunt Hermione did a good job on that speech." Lily said quietly next to him. Al found himself smiling a little as they clapped.

Hours later, after smiling for photos with their parents for the Daily Prophet and answering one or two questions, the Potter and Weasley children were left with their evenings to themselves. Al had changed back into his jeans; his black dress robes were discarded in his trunk again and wouldn't be worn for another year. He'd left Scorpius and Rose behind in his room, since they both seemed to need to talk to each other. James, Fred, Roxy and Dom had gone to walk around and lay flowers on some of the graves near the forest and by some of the memorial plaques around the school. Lily had gone to talk to their mother, while Louis and Hugo were talking to Uncle Bill with Jake. Only Al and Maddie were left in the common room, the common room that was horribly silent.

His fingers were interwoven with Maddie's, but apart from that he'd never felt so far away from her. When he thought about it, he realised she hadn't spoken at all today or that if she had, he hadn't been listening.

"Do you want to get out of here?" He suggested to her quietly, squeezing her hand.

She shrugged before standing up, and Al followed as she let go of his hand and left the common room.

"Where did you want to go?" she asked, once they stood by the other side of the portrait hole.

"I don't know, I guess we could just walk around?"

"Fine." She nodded.

They did as he suggested; they walked through the corridors. Maddie still didn't say a word.

"Hey, I know today's been hard, but you can talk to me." Al told her after they'd walked all the way to the owlery in silence.

"I know." She nodded. "But I don't really want to-"  
"Why not?" He asked, sitting down on one of the benches and pulling her towards him. She sat down next to him, looking at her feet.

"Honestly? You don't want to hear some of the stuff that's going through my head." She sighed.

"No, I do. Tell me."

"I'm just… I'm annoyed at his whole place today." Al hadn't expected that. "I'm fed up of having a war that's nothing to do with me shoved down my throat-"  
"Nothing to do with… Mads, come on, of course it's to do with you; my Dad-"  
"Yeah, your Dad." She interrupted him, shaking her head. "The war my grandfather died in goes completely unacknowledged every year, but this one-"  
"That's because people died in this building, fighting in our war-"

She made a small noise. A noise that, if Al was hearing correctly, sounded horribly like a laugh.

"It's the wizards' only real war, because you were too cowardly to get involved in ours-"

Al let go of her hands, even though he was pretty sure that she'd stopped gripping to his a while ago.

"Cowardly? Cowardly, was it, for us wizards to protect thousands of muggles when we didn't really need to? Cowardly for so many people to die just to keep all of you safe-?"  
"'_So many people_'?" Maddie echoed. Her eyes were bright with something he didn't see in her often; anger. "Al, you can read a list of every single person who died in your war within an hour. It would take days to list everyone who died in our wars-"

"So you're saying our war wasn't devastating? That we didn't fight as hard? That the dead people from our war don't deserve remembering-"  
He hated this. He hated the way they were talking; "_our_" and "_your_" as if their lives were completely separate. He was sure this was what his Dad had been discouraging just hours earlier, but then again he wondered if Maddie had even been listening.

"Al, you know that's not what I'm saying. I just wish Hogwarts would acknowledge that the wizarding war isn't the only one to have happened."

Al nodded, sighing. He wanted this to stop. "You shouldn't even be talking like this today." He said to her, hoping that they would both just agree to put the whole thing behind them.

She sighed. "You asked me what I was thinking."

"I thought you'd be feeling sad. Not annoyed that you wasted your day-"  
"Al, please don't take it personally. I get how hard this war was for your family, but…" Her voice trailed away, she shook her head as if forcing herself to stop speaking.

"But what?"  
"But I just think it's wrong. I think it's wrong that your family get all the celebration when there are probably hundreds of people out there who lost everything, but just because they didn't die or they weren't _the chosen one_ they don't get any of the thanks."

He stared at her, wondering if she was deliberately trying to start an argument to stop the day hurting. If she was, it was working.

"My parents don't want that-"  
"No, but you do. You like that your family are treated like Gods. You like that you can get away with anything you want because of your surname; because your family fought in a war that, in the bigger picture, means nothing."

"Means nothing?" Al echoed, standing up and walking away from her. The owls in the room hooted, some of them flying away as if they could sense the anger.

"Not nothing; I didn't mean that." She sighed.

"You think I like it? You think I like looking up and seeing my relatives' names on that stone?"  
"Maybe not that bit, maybe not today, but normally you like the fame. Don't deny it, I know you do-"

"So what, are you jealous?"

"Don't be so pathetic." She told him, standing up.

"Oh, so now I'm pathetic? Pathetic for feeling something. I bet you think Lily and Rose are pathetic too, for crying over a war that '_meant nothing'_. You know what, I get it. I get that you think the muggle wars are more important than this one. But my relatives? They died in this one, so the least you can do is respect them today-"  
"Tell me when the memorial for the muggle wars are then. Come on Al, if you can tell me this I'll give you all the respect and understanding you could ever want!"

Her eyes narrowed as Al racked his brain. Why, he didn't know; he had no idea when their memorial day was. He had no idea they even had one.

But admitting that would be like proving she was right. It would be showing weakness, and as much as he didn't want to argue, now he'd started he didn't want to lose.

"Whatever, Maddie." He said angrily, turning and storming out of the door and down the stairs, leaving her behind.

He didn't expect it, but his anger at her built as he walked away. He expected to feel guilty for shouting, but he didn't. Instead he just replayed the things she'd said in his mind and wanted to turn back around and yell at her some more.

How anyone could be so insensitive he didn't know.

He carried on stomping down the corridors, well aware that he looked like an idiot, until he ended up outside the room of requirement. He didn't know why he walked there.

A door stood in front of him though, where there wasn't usually one. A sign hung on the door, saying _"Anyone is welcome"._

He pushed it open, to see a large room full of candles and pictures and teenagers.

"Al!" He turned to see Laura Spinnet, a girl in his year who Rose shared a dorm with and who he talked to sometimes during Herbology. "What are you doing-?"  
"What is this?" he asked, hearing his own voice and realising he still sounded angry even though he was really just confused.

"Oh, er, this is a memorial party." She shifted on her feet. "I'm sorry if it seems disrespectful, but a few of us wanted to celebrate the dead in our own way. Instead of silence, we share funny stories or play music or we get drunk… we just celebrate that we still have our lives."

Al nodded, looking round again, properly. He saw that the pictures of those on the wall were those of the dead; Cedric Diggory winked down at him as Colin Creevey waved excitedly in the picture next to him.

"Wow." Al said under his breath. "Did you say there was alcohol?"  
Laura nodded, pointing to a table behind him lined with firewhiskey.

"Can I- Can I stay? I know I wasn't invited but-"  
"Are you kidding? You'll be like the guest of honour!" Laura smiled welcomingly, before turning and pointing at the largest picture to their right.

It was Al's family, although they were a lot younger that they were now. It must have been an old school photo, because Al had never seen it before. Fred and George pulled faces behind Ron, as he stood looking confused. A young version of Al's Mum smiled up at a young Harry Potter, who was busy smiling at Hermione, who was engrossed in conversation with Uncle Percy.

"Of course you're welcome. Your family saved the world."

It was exactly what Al had needed to hear after his argument with Maddie; appreciation. And if he couldn't get it from his girlfriend, he could always get it from someone else.


	66. The Truth

Hi everyone! So I'm not making you wait very long this time. How lovely am I?  
Anyway, I firstly wanted to say thankyou very much for the reviews/alerts/favourites on both this story and my other four-shot; I'm so glad you liked them! I'm not reply to reviews for that story; but if you want me to reply to you then feel free to PM me your thoughts about those stories!

So, as for this story; I'm glad you liked that chapter.  
Anonymous reviewers; _IHaveNoIdea8 _(They just invited her mainly out of courtesy), _rednose _(It's interesting that you can see if from both sides; I tried to make that clear. Also, I'm glad you liked Harry's speech; I've never been more nervous about writing anything! Thanks for the review!), _wow _(Thanks for the review I'm glad you liked the story. :D) and _skm001 _(haha, thanks, I didn't really know where that came from; they were going to fight about something else but it ended up about muggle wars, thanks for the review!).  
Reviews do mean so so much to me! I remember asking these questions to you a while ago, and I was wondering if your opinions had changed:  
1) Lily/Jake; break up or stay together?  
2) Louisa/James; get back together or break up?  
3) Al/Maddie; break up or stay together?  
4) Any other thoughts on the couples; Fred/Anna, Roxy/Jamie and (Dare I say it) Rose/Scorpius?

This chapter is the long awaited Dom-explanation chapter. Yay! Please please please tell me your thoughts! I know you all had theories on why Dom is the way she is, and maybe this will explain it…

**_Disclaimer: _**_I still don't own Harry Potter. It's so upsetting, believe me.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty Six- ****The Truth)**

For one day of the year, Dominique Weasley didn't have to worry about how she looked; she wasn't expected to look hot or even look nice; she was expected to look like crap on memorial day.

And God, today she had lived up to expectations; her hair was scooped back, she was completely makeup-less and her black dress robes were hanging baggily from her body.

And she didn't _care._

Today, she had more important things to worry about. Today, she had watched as her friends and family cried about the losses of twenty five years ago, she'd heard lists of the dead that were far too long, and she'd heard speeches about the importance of love and peace and happiness… She hadn't been worrying about that, though; she hadn't been crying about that.

For the whole three or so hours of the memorial service, her sister had been sat on the stage and not once had she looked in Dom's direction. In fact, the two sisters had been in the same school for almost two days now, and Victoire hadn't even glanced in Dom's direction.

Now the memorial service was over, everyone had the afternoon to spend in their own ways; Roxy, Dom, Anna, Fred and James had left the younger children behind after pictures for the _Prophet _to lay flowers by the memorial statue or by some of the plaques around school. However, after a few minutes, Dom told the four of them she wanted to be left alone and was now sat on the grass near the statue hours after the memorial service with no one around.

After spending all of her last year at school feeling sorry for herself, she didn't think she could feel any worse; the last two days had proved her wrong.

It was starting to get cold now; the wind was chilly and the sky had turned grey. Dominique considered going back inside and going to bed, but somehow she didn't want to; at least on her own she could completely embrace how upset she was, while around other people she would have to pretend to be ok.

"Dom?"

She heard his voice before she saw it, and wondered if she'd imagined it.

A few minutes later, though, he was stood in front of her; for once she wasn't dreaming about him and he was actually standing over her with a worried look on his face.  
"Dom, are you alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine Teddy." She lied, looking up at him knowing her eyes were puffy from crying and wishing for once in her life that she looked prettier.

"You know I don't believe you, don't you?" Teddy replied simply, his eyes turning darker as he looked at her; from blue to brown. "Let me cheer you up."

She shook her head, but before she had a chance to tell him to stop he'd shrunk a few inches, his hair had turned a bright shade of blonde and his eyes turned blue again; he looked exactly like her little brother.

She smiled to herself a little, before bursting into giggles when _Louis_ began to dance stupidly.

"Teddy, stop." Dom told him between laughter. "Turn back to normal."

Teddy sat next to her, and then morphed back into himself; his large brown eyes, his perfect cheekbones, his wide shoulders…

"You normally have blue hair." Dom told him, resisting the urge to read out and run her fingers through his uncharacteristically black fringe.

"Yeah, well Vic wanted me to have it dark; she thought it was more appropriate."  
"That sounds like her." Dom replied without thinking.

They both looked down at the grass in front of them awkwardly, before Dom forced herself to speak again.

"You should go." She sighed, hating herself for giving up on the first time she'd been happy in ages.

"Dom-"  
"No, really, you're not meant to talk to me-"  
"Maybe I don't care." He turned and looked at her, his eyes honest and searching hers.

"Well I do. I don't want Vic to hate me any more than she already does-"  
"She doesn't." He shook his head. "She doesn't hate you."

Dom wanted to believe him, but all the evidence screamed at her that Victoire did hate her. She wasn't prepared to let herself get her hopes up to them have them dashed horribly.

"Look, just let me tell her the truth, please Dom?" Teddy put his hands on Dom's arm; her heart skipped a beat.

She hated that he was the only guy in the world that made her feel like this, when he was the only guy in the world that she couldn't have.

"Teddy, you can't; you'll lose everything-"

"Please, just let me tell her I started it."

She shook her head again, feeling tears rise to her eyes as she stared back at him. "No, Teddy, you'd lose your whole family, whereas this way I only lose-"  
"You only lose your sister, who means everything to you and you can't deny it; I know you."  
She gave up on trying to lie to him and claim that she didn't mind, so instead she sighed and tried to reason with him again. "Look, it was my own fault. I practically made you do it, walking around in skimpy outfits being even more slutty than usual-"  
"Don't." He said sternly. "Don't talk about yourself like that. You're not like that; you weren't like that-"  
"I was, Teddy. What happened was my fault, Vic's right to hate me-"  
"She's not, because she doesn't know the truth."

He was still wrong, in Dom's mind. It was him who didn't know the truth; he didn't know that she'd been trying to get him to notice her for months, or that everything that happened that day was almost perfectly planned.

_She woke up that morning, and opened her blind to see a perfectly blue sky with the sun sparkling from the surface of the sea. She thought to herself how perfect this was, in more ways than one, before pulling on her shortest pair of shorts, her low-cut vest top and a baggy cardigan. She pulled her hair back perfectly, her makeup simple with beautifully glossy lips._

_Her Mum and Dad had taken Louis to France for a week this summer; Victoire and Dom had agreed to stay behind. Of course, this meant that Teddy stayed that week as well, to "keep the girls safe"._

_Downstairs in the kitchen, she found him sat at the breakfast table, reading the Prophet. He sat up straighter when she walked inside, and then turned around and smiled at her. The kind of smile that made her think someone had cursed her with a jelly-legs jinx. _

"_Morning," he nodded his head at her, his eyes lingering for an unusual amount on her bare legs. She smiled to herself, before walking to the shelves and deliberately reaching to the top shelf for the coffee, so her cardigan rode up her back and exposed her bare skin. _

_She turned to see her sister's boyfriend blinking at her desperately, his mouth open a little._

_She was used to that look; she got it all the time at school. This time, though, she was getting that look from someone she wanted to see her like that, instead of just some pervy teenager. She smiled to herself, before sitting down opposite him with a mug of hot coffee in her hand. _

"_Where's Vic?" She asked.  
"She's gone to London to shop with Jenny. I said I'd go, but then I changed my mind. It annoyed her a bit, but I didn't want to leave you here on your own."_

_She smiled again at him, forgetting to look at him cheekily like she had been before, and letting a genuine smile cross her face. "Thanks." She said quietly, before sipping her coffee. "Can you help me out today then, if you're not busy?"_

"_Yeah, what were you thinking?"  
"I want to rearrange my room. There's loads of photos that I've been meaning to stick up for ages and I want my bed to face the window so-"  
"I'll help." He replied obligingly, before closing his paper and watching her. _

_She stood up, and drank the rest of her coffee with his eyes on her before going up the stairs and letting him follow her. _

_An hour later, they'd moved her bed around her room, and were laughing at the photos she had of her family. She hadn't meant to, but she'd forgotten her plan; she remembered to take off her cardigan and claim it was "too hot" but other than that she'd just let herself be with him, laughing and acting stupid._

"_Wait, is this James?" Teddy asked, pulling the next photo out of her shoebox and spinning it around.  
"Yes." Dom laughed._

"_Why is he dressed as a girl?" He raised his eyebrows._

"_Our Halloween party in fourth year; guys dressed as girls and girls dressed as guys."  
"You dressed as a boy?"_

_Dom nodded, reaching over him to get to the next photo, her hair falling from it's ponytail as she did so. "Actually, you know what; I don't want you to see this." She teased, turning the photo and holding it close to her chest._

"_Woah, that's not fair. Especially when you have a photo of me dressed as a hippogriff on your wall." He whined jokily. _

_She turned and looked at the photo that he was talking about, and three year old Teddy Lupin giggled back at her. "Yes, but that photo's adorable. This one is ugly-"  
"Impossible." He shook his head. "You couldn't look ugly; you could probably wear that hippogriff costume and look beautiful." _

_She glanced up into his eyes as they changed from brown to green. He stared right back; he didn't break focus. Dom thought she might die under the intensity of his gaze._

_She'd had guys look at her intensely like this before; she knew what he was thinking and she knew what was inevitably about to happen._

_So then she perfected her best move; she jumped up from where they were stood and he blinked awkwardly, watching her. _

"_You are never getting this photo!" She teased, holding it high above her head._

_He seemed to come back to earth, and jumped to his feet. He was taller than her, so she was forced to bend over with the photo in her hand. He ducked down so she jumped up, standing on her dressing table precariously.  
"I'm not giving up, and you are going to fall over!" He told her, crossing his arms jokingly._

"_No, I'm not." She replied, before leaping onto her bed and holding the photo even higher. After a second of considering, he jumped onto her bed as well, making it creak with his weight on the mattress. She stepped backwards, where she knew she would eventually be cornered against the wall._

_Moments later, as she predicted, she had nowhere else to run, so stood up taller and stretched her arm as high as she could. Unable to reach, his hands hit her hips and he began to tickle her. _

_She laughed, concentrating on keeping the photo high in the air, so he gave up and stood on his own tiptoes. His body was almost completely pressed to hers, and one look in his eyes told her just how aware he was of it._

_This was why her move from earlier was so brilliant; he was still thinking about kissing her, even though she'd stopped him from doing so earlier. He was still going to kiss her…_

_He didn't. He took the photo from her and looked at it, leaning back but leaving his hand on her hip. _

"_You see, I told you; beautiful."_

"_You're lying." She said vaguely, her eyes locked on his. _

"_I'd never lie to you."_

_Then he finally kissed her, one of his hands still resting on her hip and the other rising to her neck, pulling her further towards him._

_Dom's hands twisted through his hair as it changed from blue to red, and his eyes turned black. The two of them slid down the wall onto her bed, the photo falling to the floor, forgotten…_

Even looking at him now, she still felt it; that need in the pit of her stomach for him to hold her and never let go; that jealousy of her sister for getting the only thing she'd ever really wanted.

"It was my fault, Teddy." She told him, honestly. "I wanted that for longer than you'll ever know, and you may have kissed me first but I practically made you-"

"You didn't." He shook his head, before sighing. "Dom, why would you want me? You can do so much better, you have done so much better-"  
"I don't-" She corrected herself, from the truth to lies. "I _didn't_ want those guys; I wanted you."

He turned his head and then looked down, biting his lip. "Don't say that; it's not fair."

"Why-?"  
"God, I wish you were older. You seem so much older; that's the problem, I can talk to you so easily-"

"You can talk to Vic too." Dom said loudly, reminding herself as well as him that Vic _existed._

"Yeah, I can. God, you're my girlfriend's-"  
"Fiancée." She corrected, hating herself for it.

"Fiancée's little sister." He bit his nails, looking away from her as if he couldn't stay there anymore. "I've watched you grow up; you're meant to be like my little sister, but you're not. I can go months hardly thinking about you, but when I see you again I… You're meant to be like my little bloody sister-" She considered telling him they weren't meant to be talking again, but somehow the words wouldn't form themselves; she stopped caring about what they were or weren't _meant _to do.  
"But I'm not." She completed as he dared to look at her again.

"You're not. You're too beautiful and perfect to be related to me."

It was exactly this kind of thing that had made her fall in love with him in the first place.

"Teddy, don't. Please."

She wasn't sure what she was asking him not to do, but either way he put his arms around her. That just made the tears, which had been lingering behind her eyes for a while, fall quickly down her cheeks.

He turned to hold her, her head resting on his shoulder; her tears smudged onto his jacket and she found herself clinging onto his jumper as if it would make sure he never left her.

What she was crying about, she didn't know; after months of trying to be ok in this school, it felt weird to finally just be upset with someone. Because of what she felt for Teddy, or the way he seemed to feel about her, about how much she missed her sister, or because her cousins called her a slut so often…

"Dom, you can't be like this, I can't stand to see you like this-"  
"Well it's because of you." she cried, not wanting to sound so angry.

"Don't say that, either. You can do better than me; someone younger, someone better looking, someone cleverer or funnier-"

"They're not you." She spoke without thinking, but he didn't disagree.

And then it was one of those moments again; she felt their hearts beating together, and wanted to stay here forever. This time she hadn't forced it, though; this time his feelings were genuine; he meant every word he was or _was not_ saying. She looked up at him and thought he might say something else; he was biting his lip as if about to speak or move-

"What the hell is going on?"

Dom had never moved so fast; she leapt up to her feet before she'd even had time to think, almost on instinct.

Her sister looked _wild_;her hair was blowing in the wind, her eyes were wide and she was staring angrily at Dom. Not Teddy, Dom noticed; Vic's glares were shooting straight into Dom's own blue eyes. Dom couldn't help but appreciate the fact that her sister was acknowledging her existence.

"Vic." Teddy sighed, standing up tiredly and looking nervously at Dom as she wiped her eyes.  
"Are you two kidding me?" She demanded.

"No, look, this isn't the way it seems-"  
"Have I turned back time?" Vic asked Teddy incredulously. "I'm pretty sure I've seen all this before-"

"No, because-"

"Although this time, my fiancée isn't _on top _of my sister so it's not quite as bad-"

"Dammit Victoire, will you please just shut up?" Teddy yelled loudly, having given up on interrupting her quietly.

Vic turned her head to him, looking as if she'd just been hit with a particularly powerful stunning spell.

"Dom's my friend; you have to let us talk, ok? We're not… Vic, I love you, not her. And she doesn't love me either-"

Over the last few years, Dom had noticed little things about Teddy that she was sure even Victoire didn't know; like that when he was jealous his eyes turned green, or that when he was lying, a freckle appeared on the side of his nose. She knew he couldn't control this, so as he spoke she found herself staring at his nose, and noticing a small freckle appear on the bridge of it. Unsure whether this made her want to jump up and down or cry, she looked down to the floor and pretended she hadn't noticed.

"Yes, she does. She told me." Vic replied quietly, looking a lot like a sulking child.

Dom took a deep breath, and forced herself to fix everything, even if it was a lie, the same way Teddy had. "I don't. I don't love him and I never did-"  
"So you just went after him for no reason-"  
"Yes. Just to see if I could-"

"No, Dom don't lie. Vic, she didn't '_come after me_'-"

"She kissed you!"

He turned his head and looked at Dom carefully, as if considering telling the truth, but Dom shook her head desperately. "Vic, please let this go. It was last summer and there are so many more important things to worry about. You're sisters, you're family-"  
"Well, maybe I don't want her-" Victoire began.

"Vic, at least you have a family! Will you please appreciate what you have and grow up?"  
Dom watched as her sister looked down shamefully, before glancing up at the memorial statue above them. Tears seemed to have clouded her eyes, and she mumbled "But Teddy, she tried to steal you-"

"No, she didn't."  
"I didn't." Dom agreed. "I never wanted to hurt you; I would never have let him hurt you."

"How am I meant to know that-?"  
"Because you know _her_, Vic. You know Dom better than you even know yourself, and you know that she'd do anything she could to protect you."

Victoire nodded dumbly, before turning and looking at Dom with slightly more kindness in her eyes.

Dom took this as her cue to say what she'd been meaning to say for months. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But you're my sister, and I miss you. I miss writing to you to whine about Fred and Anna being on top of each other all the time and-"  
"I miss you too." Her big sister replied, interrupting Dom's mental speech which was at least an hour long. "I do."

Dom smiled, unable to help herself, while Teddy looked incredibly pleased with himself. Victoire smiled back; the smile that Victoire didn't look like herself without.

"I'm sorry for all those things I said."

"Me too."

"Vicky, hug her." Teddy commanded.

Vic did as she was told, her arms wrapping around Dom tightly. Dom found that Teddy wasn't the only person she never wanted to let go of; she didn't ever want to lose her sister again.

She laughed in her head though, at the fickleness of the two of them; as quickly as they had fallen out, they had become friends again, with just months of ignoring in between.

"Anyway," Vic started, letting go of Dom and smiling at her. "I just came out to check you were ok, Teddy, after today…"  
"I'm fine, Vic, honestly I am."

"Ok. Love you."

"Love you too."

Dom watched, a little amazed, as Victoire left them alone again without a second glance.

"I do love her, Dom." Teddy said quietly, stepping towards her cautiously.

"I know you do." Dom agreed, still too happy at having her sister back to believe that she wasn't dreaming.

"But Dom, I-"  
"Don't, Teddy I just got her back-"  
"I know, but I just have to say this." He took a deep breath, and Dom watched as his hair morphed back to blue. She thought he was trying to make himself more comfortable, or more prepared. "I know I'm not meant to, but somehow I love you too. And not in a sisterly or friend way, in exactly the same way I love Vic. I think I always will, Dominique. I'm not with Victoire because I love her more, because I'm not sure I do; I'm with her because we were meant to be together. You and me aren't meant to be; you can do so much better than me. So even if it hurts, and believe me this hurts, I want to see you happy with someone else. I want to see you happy because your smile's so incredible. Please try and find someone who makes you happy, for me?"

Dom just stared back at him dumbly, her eyes wide but dry. After all these years of dreaming about it, Teddy actually loved her. And even if he couldn't be with her, and he would never say all these things to her again, it proved to her that it was possible; someone could fall in love with her, and not just want to sleep with her.

"Ok." She replied eventually, a completely lame reply to everything he'd just said. "But I'm not doing it for you; I'm doing it for myself."  
She was done trying to please people; she was done letting people walk over her or talk about her like she was rubbish. She was going to start being happy, and nothing and no one would stop Victoire and, more importantly, Teddy, back in her life gave her the strength she needed to stand up for herself.


	67. Slow It Down

Hey guys. So I'm sorry about how long the update has taken; I had exams but they're all done now until May! And, since I'm quarantined again with shingles, I should be able to update again quickly.

Firstly, as always, thanks so very much to anyone who's favourited or alerted this story- my alerts have gone over 300 and I honestly can't believe it. That means so much to me so thank you very much! As always, thanks to anonymous reviewers as well; _natallyharrypotter _(Thanks so much for the incredible review and for reading all of my story. There's going to be about 80-ish chapters and I hope you keep reading/reviewing!), _Squid7000 _(You reviewed four times and I can't reply! Thanks so much even so!), _rednose _(I'm glad you liked the chapter, and that you can understand Dom a bit more now. Thank you very much), _Dani _(I'm glad you liked it, and that you didn't see the Dom/Teddy coming! Thanks for answering the questions and for reviewing!) and _ladeeda _(Thanks so much for all your opinions on the couples! Thanks for reviewing as well!).

Right, so before I give you all this chapter to read (which I'm not too sure about by the way, but is going to be followed by a really good chapter I promise), I wanted to tell you about my new tumblr. My username is beyondtheimperfections-, and I thought you could all check it out.  
Also, if you'd like, you can PM me questions about my fic; which actors do I think look like my characters, what was the most important experience in James' life etc. Just anything you wanted to know to keep me inspired/distracted while I'm ill and lonely. :( I may even reply as my characters if I get that bored!

Ps. Thanks for answering my questions, guys, lots of you are going to be very happy/unhappy. :P  
Pss. Sorry for the long A/N.

**_Disclaimer: _**_I plan on cheering up by watching all the Harry Potter films; but this just reminds me that Harry Potter does not, and never has, belonged to me.

* * *

_

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty Seven- ****Slow It Down)**

A very large part of Hermione hated being back in Hogwarts; she hated the way it made her feel like a child again, and the way it reminded her of all the horrible memories of the building. She hated she didn't sleep in the Gryffindor common room anymore, or that she couldn't walk two feet down the corridor without being yelled after excitedly.

Then again though, she loved that she had the chance to replace some of the bad memories with the good; she loved that she could finally hold hands with Ron in the corridors as her teenage self had always wished to do. She loved that she could watch her children in their natural environment, in _their_ school, and see just how different it was for them than it had been for her.

She was thinking exactly this as she sat down to breakfast, absentmindedly watching as her children, nieces and nephews ate their own food. They were the only children in the room that were acting normally; all the other pupils were watching Hermione and her family in awe.

"I've done this for years now, and I still think it's weird to be watched while I eat." George commented as he shovelled more toast into his mouth.

"I don't care to be honest; I can't tell you how much I've missed Hogwarts food."

Hermione turned and raised her eyebrows at Ron, before challenging "Do you think the food here is better than my cooking?"

"N-No, I-"

"Yes." Ginny replied easily, before reaching for the butter.

Hermione just sighed, amazed that the Weasleys' appetite didn't fade once they were fully grown adults.

The other adults then began to discuss today's Quidditch final, so Hermione returned to watching the children.

It was weird when you couldn't hear what someone was saying but you could somehow work it out yourself. She sat and watched as Jake reached over Lily's plate, and she turned and began to rant at him, Louis watching hopelessly. James talked enthusiastically with Fred, as Al ate and Hugo looked confused. Roxy, Dom and Anna sat looking bored and Rose and Scorpius were talking quietly between themselves.

"Oi, Potter!" The yell came from the Ravenclaw table, and James, Al, Ginny, Lily and Harry turned in that direction at once as the rest of the room hushed.

A Ravenclaw boy stood up, before shouting "Ravenclaw is going to win today."  
"No, you're not!" Fred replied, standing quickly. "Come on, Walker, don't get your hopes up it just means you'll be even more disappointed."

Gryffindors began to jeer as the Ravenclaw boy tried to think of something to reply.

He resorted to chanting the house's name, until eventually the entire table at which he sat was chanting "Ravenclaw". The Slytherins joined this chanting, so Fred and James stood on the bench and began to sing loudly.

"_Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, he beats every single thing, Weasley is our King-"_

"No way." George commented from Hermione's side, as the rest of Gryffindor and some Hufflepuffs joined in what appeared to be a well-known song.

"_James Potter is our King, James Potter is our King, he always gets Quaffle in, James Potter is our King."_

Hermione turned to see that her husband looked proud, while everyone else looked impressed. The teachers behind her, including Neville, didn't look surprised at all at the song, or at the fact that the entire school had broken out into impromptu noise. It dawned on Hermione that this school was nothing like the Hogwarts she'd known; this was far more fun.

"_Malfoy is our King, Malfoy is our King, he never lets the Quaffle in, Malfoy is our King! Al Potter is our King, Al Potter is our King, the snitch is always caught by him, Al Potter is our King!"_

The pupils returned to cheering loudly, stomping their feet and chanting.

Hermione turned to see that Ginny, Ron, Angelina, George, Teddy and Harry had joined in, chanting "Gryffindor" loudly.

"You're setting a great example." Hermione said sarcastically; Victoire nodded in agreement, tugging at Teddy's arm.

"Settle down, everyone, settle down." Professor McGonagall commanded from behind, eying the adults as she said this. The four men, and Ginny and Angelina, sat down quietly.

"I wish we'd done that. That would have shown Malfoy-" George mumbled, as Ron hummed Weasley is Our King under his breath.

Hermione just watched as the children of the family sat down, looking pleased with themselves, and carried on their conversations.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Harry asked from her side, reminding her almost painfully of when she always used to ask if he and his scar were okay over breakfast.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that we've been in school with our children for two days now and we've hardly spoken to them. Don't you think that's a little weird? And we're going home tonight and we still won't have spoken to them and-"  
"Well-"  
"Wait," Hermione put her hand up, as she scanned the table in front of her. "I have an idea."

"Which is?"

Hermione ignored her best friend, as she always used to do when they were in school, to get up and run towards the Headmistress. After a few minutes of conversation, she hurried back to her seat but didn't sit down; she wanted to make sure everyone was informed before they ran off to prepare for Quidditch.

Harry looked at her incredulously as she cleared her throat; the adults turned and looked at her. "We're having a meal tonight; just us and the kids in here when everyone else is done with dinner."

"That's a great idea Hermione." Teddy told her, nodding. Hermione didn't stay to wait for the others' approval though, and ran down to the children's table. Of course, she couldn't help but notice that the room hushed a little as everyone tried to eavesdrop.

"Mum! Hi." Rose exclaimed, looking startled and leaning away from both Al and Scorpius.

Hermione chose to ignore this, and smiled at her daughter as the rest of them looked at her expectantly. "We'd love it if you could all come to a meal with us tonight, after the match."  
"Wait, instead of dinner?" Hugo asked, looking a lot like his father.

"Yes, if you come here once normal dinner's finished, we'll eat with all of you to catch up before we leave."  
"That sounds great, Aunt Hermione!" Louis said excitedly. "Then I'll have something to look forward to after stupid Quidditch."

His cousins grumbled, and Hermione smiled.

"Good luck today." She told the children finally before turning around and walking back slowly, deliberately trying to listen into what Rose had been so engrossed in conversation about a moment before.

"Look, Scorpius," Al continued grumbling, "all I'm saying is that next time it would be nice if Rose wasn't in your bed when I came upstairs; I don't ever want to see that again."

Hermione wasn't surprised. She knew that she should be, or that she should turn around and tell her daughter off; but she couldn't. Rose was seventeen, and had always been encouraged to make her own choices; Hermione didn't meddle, that had always been Ron's job.

Ron.

She looked up at him and he smiled back at her, that goofy smile he'd had for as long as she'd known him.

"So, are they up for it then?" he asked her.

She blinked back dumbly, before nodding. "Yeah, they'll be there."

"Oh great. I can't wait for this match, you know, I really hope Gryffindor thrash Ravenclaw."  
"We all do, Ron." George replied boredly, before the bell rang and everyone began to leave.

"Right, we're off to get good seats." Ginny stated, standing.

Ron grabbed for the last piece of toast, before turning back to Hermione. "Shall we go too?"  
"Yeah, sure."

They stood, Hermione unable to resist twisting her fingers between Ron's as they walked towards the Quidditch pitch outside. She'd wished for it for so many years; she remembered watching him in Hogwarts and wishing to run up and hug him or hold his hand or just be close to him somehow…

Her children didn't have the same problems as she used to; they weren't unpopular, they didn't have to fear for their lives, they weren't stuck with unrequited love…

"Rose and Hugo are really happy, aren't they?" She said out loud, watching as children ran excitedly past them towards the pitch. For the first time since they'd arrived in Hogwarts, Hermione and Ron weren't the most exciting thing happening.

"Yeah, they seem it. They all do, actually."  
"They're lucky, they all have each other and Rose has Scorpius, Al has Maddie-"  
"Yeah, and all I had in sixth year was Lavender bloody Brown!"

Hermione nodded; she didn't generally like to acknowledge that year of her life. She looked back and realised they'd both been so pathetic and childish; they could have been happy for much longer if they'd stopped being so scared and proud.

"You know, I know it's Scorpius, but I am glad Rose has him."  
"Yeah, he's nice isn't he?" She laughed a little at her husband, knowing how much he longed to hate the boy but just couldn't manage it.

Her mind began to whirr, considering telling him what she now knew; if he liked Scorpius then maybe he wouldn't mind?

"Ron." She began, pulling him backwards so they stopped walking as the children ran around them. "I need to tell you something about that, actually."  
"Yeah? They've not broken up have they? I mean, if he's dumped her then-"  
"No, they're still very much together."

"Ok, then-"  
"_Very _much together." She said, trying to tell her husband subtly in case anyone around was listening.

"Right then-" He began to walk away again, so Hermione huffed frustratedly.

"Ok, remember when you were with Lavender-"  
"Yes."

"And you two were together for so long that everyone assumed that you had-"  
"Yeah, but I never would because I didn't love her."  
"Right. Er, but Rose _does _love Scorpius."

"I know that." Hermione shook her head; she should have known that her husband wouldn't understand subtlety; trying to subtly explain something to him was like trying to train a hippogriff. "Seriously, what are you on about-?"  
"They've slept together. I mean, they are sleeping together."  
He blinked slowly. "How?"  
"What?"  
"How? They're in school-"  
"Girls can get up the boys stairs, I guess-"  
"But it's against the school rules."  
"So's writing in textbooks, but everyone used to do that." Hermione stared up at Ron, who looked immensely calm. "Look, Ron, I think you're missing the point-"  
"No, I'm not. I get it, they've slept together, I just don't get how or when or-"  
Out of all the reactions she expected, she didn't think he'd want more details. "I don't know, I just overheard Al telling her to stay out of his bed so-"  
"That doesn't mean they've slept together." He replied, looking at Hermione as if she was stupid. "She could have just slept in his bed."

"Well yes, but Ron she's seventeen-"  
"I think you're wrong." He shook his head. "I don't think she has slept with him; you just overheard the wrong part of the conversation and assumed-"  
Hermione didn't like being called wrong, at all.

"I'm not wrong, Ronald, they're seventeen and she was in his bed so-"  
"Yeah, well we were seventeen and shared a tent for months on end and we weren't having sex so-"  
"That's different. That's completely different, Ronald-"  
"Fine then, I'll ask her."  
"You'll ask her?" She repeated. "You'll ask our seventeen year old if she's having sex-?"  
"Yes." He replied stubbornly.

"Well, that sounds like a wonderful conversation, not embarrassing at all-"  
"Just because you don't want to be proved wrong." He replied, his eyes wide. "I'll ask them tonight-"  
"Well I'd like to watch, just to see you make a fool of yourself."

"No, you're the one who'll look foolish." He replied, before turning and stomping towards the Quidditch pitch.

She stared after him, thinking how classic Ron Weasley's reaction had been; denial. And how classicly Ron-and-Hermione the last argument had been.

For the first time in the last three days, Hogwarts felt like _her _school again. Especially when she was being forced to watch a Quidditch match.

…

On the day of the biggest Quidditch match of her life, Lily knew she should be far more focused. She knew that she should be concentrating on getting as many points as she could for her brother's final match.

Instead, though, she woke up feeling angry at Jake for whatever argument they had had last night. All she really remembered was him bringing her water, and her taking this as implying she was a child compared to him; a less experienced, less grown up girl wo couldn't even get herself a drink.

She spent her whole morning being angry; he ignored her and chatted to Hugo about the match during breakfast and she got angry, he reached over her to get a drink and she was angry at him, she was invited to a meal with her family and didn't immediately think to invite Jake…

They were broken. She was angry on days when he paid attention, she ignored him when he tried to be nice, he was angry on rare days when she wanted to be with him… It just didn't seem like it was going to work out.

Hugo and Louis had tried already, asking her to calm down and be nicer to Jake or just trying to guess what had changed.

Lily couldn't have explained it even if she'd wanted to, though; she knew she was being completely irrational and childish. She just couldn't get over him lying to her, and all the little things he did that had ever annoyed her seemed to be magnified. She even got irritated that he was too perfect.

As she walked down to the Quidditch pitch with Hugo, she heard Jake's voice from behind her.

"Lily!" She shook her head, ignoring him and continuing her conversation with her cousin about whatever they had been discussing.

"I agree." She said, for no apparent reason.

Hugo looked at her confusedly, crossing his arms. "I'm not being your excuse for not talking to him again."

She blinked back at him, realising that he may be right; she dud tend to talk to Hugo only when she didn't want to talk to Jake.

"Fine." She sighed, stopping walking and looking behind her. "What?" She demanded of her boyfriend simply.

He looked at her confusedly, before sighing and walking beside her.

"Are you still mad about yesterday?"

"Yes, Jake, I'm still mad." She replied, sounding quite a lot like her Aunt Hermione.

"You always seem to be mad."  
"Yeah, because you always seem to annoy me."  
"I'm sorry." He offered. "But you do realise you're going to have to start talking to me now."  
"Why's that?"  
"Since we're on the same Quidditch team. James'll kill us if we don't work together."

She turned, raising her eyebrows in an annoyed way at how right he was. Why did he _always_ have to be right?

She stopped walking, looking him up and down and hating the look on his face. He looks so apologetic with his hands in his pockets and a sheepish grin on his face. She felt irritatingly sympathetic for him, since she knew he had no real reason to feel bad.

"Okay fine." She gave up, reaching her hand out and linking with his. "I'm sorry."  
"You don't need to be." He lied, before they both continued to the changing room in silence.

They walked inside to James' relieved sighs. "Oh, thank god, well at least you two aren't killing each other, that's one positive."

"Thanks." Lily replied sarcastically as she leant her broom against the wall and squashed in front of the mirror with Anna, trying her hair up.

"James, you have got to calm down!" Al told him tiredly, as he pulled shin pads on.

"Oh, that's what I have to do, is it? Great, thanks for the advice Al!" James replied sarcastically.

"Shouldn't you be making some sort of motivational speech?" Hugo suggested to Lily's older brother.  
"Yeah, yeah I guess I should. What should I point out to make us more positive; that this is my last ever Quidditch match? That our parents are all out there watching? That if we don't win today then we've lost my last ever chance to win the Quidditch cup? That we haven't practiced enough or that Wrenshaw's team are apparently perfect? Is that '_motivational'_ enough for you?"  
"James seriously, calm down." She was surprised at him; he was normally so calm under pressure, like their father, but he appeared to be cracking up right in front of her.

He just glared at her, then picked up his broom and started picking at the engraving on it.

"Having a broken broom isn't going to help!" Anna teased as she sat down on the bench and tied her laces tightly.

Lily, on the other hand, had run out of things to do to distract herself, similarly to her brother, and had begun to count the bricks on the wall.

She could hear the chant of Gryffindor from the other side of the door, as if it was teasing her. Her Mum was out there watching her, and the enormity of the match before her hit her far too suddenly.

"You know, I feel really quite ill." Hugo announced.

"Please don't throw up like James did on his first match." Anna requested.

"Great, thanks for reminding me of that, Anna!" James replied, annoyed.

After what seemed like forever, Fred's voice rang into the changing room.

"Well, now or never." James stated in a mock-confident way, before walking out of the room.

The team glanced at each other awkwardly for a moment before James reappeared in the doorway.

"I forgot my broom, didn't I?" He asked, picking it up and leaving again.

"Great start." Anna said sarcastically before following. Lily sighed, and looked up; her eyes caught Jake's and she couldn't help but smile.

"Good luck out there."

"You too, try and score lots of goals for me."

"Don't let too many bludgers hit me."

"Deal." She smiled, before leaving and trying to ignore her heart practically beating in her ears.

She walked out to see thousands of people towering over her, and felt smaller than she ever had. Banners with her surname on seemed to sparkle in the sun and she sighed.

"Oi oi, Potter. Ready to lose?"

"No, I just hope you are." James replied to the Ravenclaw beater easily. Now he was out here he wasn't panicking anymore; Lily envied him.

"_And it would appear that both the teams are ready, so let's start!" _Fred announced.

Lily and the team mounted their brooms, and seconds later a whistle blew and they pushed off from the floor.

Or at least Lily thought the whole team began flying, but she turned to see Al still staring up into the sky, both feet on the floor.

"Al, what are you doing?" She demanded.

"I- I don't know." He replied distractedly, a way Lily was getting used to him being. He hadn't been _normal _since, well, memorial day.

"Well, fly!" She commanded, and he did as he was told and took off into the air.

"_Well, it seems that all the Potters have decided to fly today, so that has to be good." _Fred's voice rang out sarcastically. _"Now they just need to play and it'll be fine."_

Lily shook her head at her brother before zooming herself high into the sky towards the nearest bludger and knocking it towards a boy in blue.

An hour or so later, she was shattered. For the entire match, she'd been hitting the bludgers out of the way with such force, imagining they were… Well, she didn't know what she imagined she was hitting, but whatever it was she was really angry with it.

"Lily, change tactics; stop defending Anna and aim for Wrenshaw." James commanded as he flied past, looking shattered; his hair more messy than their father's.

"_And it appears that every person on the pitch is knackered, as are the majority of the crowd. I'm pretty sure I saw a Hufflepuff faint over there, but no worries! All we need now is for someone to catch the snitch, but Gryffindor's seeker has gone AWOL so-"  
_Lily looked around to see that Fred was right; her brother was nowhere to be seen.

She flew in the direction of the Ravenclaw hoops, where Scorpius was ungracefully trying to tie his laces while balancing in the air.

"Where's Al?" She shouted loudly.

Scorpius looked up at her, and shrugged. "I don't know, sorry."  
She shook her head tiredly, and was about to berate him for being useless before she realised that he had been kind of busy today; there had been 32 aims at the hoops so far and Scorpius had only missed 3 of them. Anna, James and Jake, on the other hand, had scored 13 times already. It wasn't like Gryffindor really needed Al around right now, but Lily really felt like _she_ did.

"Lily, move!" She heard James yell, before turning to see a Ravenclaw chaser flying fast in her direction, Jake and James on his tail.

She flew up sharply to avoid being hit, feeling the wind rush under her toes as he sped past.

The quaffle flew into the hoop so quick that Scorpius barely had time to even get to the right place, never mind catch it.

"_Oh no, now it's 130-40. That's never good." _Fred's voice rang through the pitch as James looked at the Ravenclaw chaser angrily.

"You just nearly knocked my sister off her broom!" He yelled.

"Mate, that's the point of the game!" The chaser replied, looking chuffed at having scored.  
"No, it's not, _mate. _If you nearly hurt my sister again then-"  
"James, shut up!" Lily shouted, watching as Scorpius was forced to throw the Quaffle back into the game and Anna flew away with it down the pitch with Jake following. "It's okay."  
"Yeah, James calm down-" Scorpius suggested.  
"Calm down? How am I meant to calm down when my bloody seeker's missing?" James yelled before looking up. "You know what, Lily, you're not playing anymore until you find our stupid brother."

"_And while a few of the Gryffindors have a mother's meeting in the corner, Anna tries to score again. Unfortunately the Keeper, Smith, saves it, but at least someone's trying to win the game!"_

James looked up in Fred's direction, annoyed.

"That's stupid James, then you'll be two team members down. We'll never win-"  
"We'll never win without a seeker either way. Find him, Lily."

She sighed loudly (admittedly a little brattishly), before flying up aimlessly.

She found him all too easily; he had no excuse for not playing, he wasn't lost in the sky.

"Al, what the hell do you think you're doing?" She demanded, pulling her broom next to his. He was hovering high above the Gryffindor stand, staring down.

He sniffed, and she turned and looked at him.

"I can't see it." He replied quietly.

"What?"  
"I can't see the snitch. It's normally so easy and it's just _there _and today it's not." He replied, sounding all too confused and sad for Lily's liking.

She looked at her brother worriedly. "Well, look for it."  
"I don't usually have to. I'm not used to actually having to find it. I-I've not had this problem before and I don't know how I'm meant to handle it. I'm stuck, Lils, no matter what I do."  
He wasn't talking about Quidditch anymore, Lily knew this much. What she didn't know was what he _was _talking about.

"Al, are you alright? I know we should be concentrating on the game but I'm worried about you."  
"I'm fine." He lied.

"You're not."  
"Well, no, maybe not."  
She sighed, knowing he wouldn't expand. "Nothing seems easy at the moment," she attempted. "Everyone has their exams and boy/girl problems and-"  
"What's going on with you and Jake? You don't have to be a Ravenclaw to work out that something's not right there."

Just as he had moments ago, she avoided his question. "We should be out there playing."

"_And Ravenclaw scores again. The blues are catching up with the reds all too quickly; 130-90!" _

"We really should be playing." She repeated, and Al shook his head tiredly.

"I can't Lils. All those people are watching and I'm just going to let them down-"  
"You won't let anyone down."  
"Yes, I will."

Lily was so busy looking at her brother worriedly that she didn't even notice as the crowd hushed suddenly. James' voice floated towards them as he flew in their direction.

"Alright, girls, what's going on up here?" He demanded, looking furious for a moment before he got close enough to really see the state of his brother.

"Shouldn't you be out on the pitch?"  
"Nah, the Ravenclaw keeper fell off her broom so we have a few minutes."  
"Oh." Lily replied, looking down as James pulled his broom up next to her, enjoying the absurdity of the moment.

The three Potters stared down at the crowd, who continued obliviously, for what felt like hours. It was probably only seconds though, Lily realised.  
"_There appears to be some sort of Potter union in the corner of the sky while Antonia Tucker is attended to by the nurse." _Fred's voice rang into their ears, knocking them all out of their thoughts, which were probably so different but so similar at the same time.

"What's wrong, Al?" James asked, as if he hadn't heard Fred's words and he couldn't see the kids far below him crane their necks to look up.

"I can't see the snitch. I can't do this James."  
"Yes, you can." James replied across Lily, looking honest. It reminded her of when James had been teaching Al how to fly and Lily had watched wistfully. "And I'm not just speaking as your Captain, I'm speaking as your brother; you can do this. You can do anything, you know that."  
"Really?"  
"Really. Besides, if you don't, then you won't get to be Quidditch captain next year, and that'll just be a let down to the Potter legacy." James' laugh cut the seriousness of the moment, and the three of them seemed to soar back into reality.

"_Tucker is back in the game and the Quaffle is re-released. And yet, the Potters are still having a bloody family reunion!" _Fred yelled loudly. "_Sorry Professor." _They heard him mumble to McGonagall as the crowd began to chant their surname.  
"Come on, Dad's watching; he wouldn't want us to lose today."  
"Forget Dad; Mum would kill us!" Lily laughed, before beginning to fly back down and knocking a bludger away from Anna with cheers roaring in her ears.

"Lils, what was that all about?" Jake asked loudly as he flew towards the other end of the pitch.

"Nothing, Jake." Lily replied, smiling as her youngest brother soared over her head ridiculously quickly.

"_Quick Potter update; having stopped the pow-wow, Lily's defending Anna, James is- has- just scored and Al is… Wait, no way. Is that the Snitch? Is he actually going to catch- Oh my Merlin!"_

Lily could have sworn her cheers were louder than the entire rest of the school's as Al landed on the floor with the small golden ball in his hand.

She landed too, dropping her broom and running as fast as she could in his direction. To her surprise, he was running towards her as well.

"I did it, Lils, I actually did it!"  
"I told you that you could." James yelled over Lily's head as he jumped down from his broom.

The three of them hugged between themselves; the three Potters completely supporting and celebrating with each other.

"I know I don't say this often, and I don't often get the chance, but I'm here for you two, if you ever want to talk." James said quietly; Lily wondered how she heard his voice when he practically spoke into her hair and the crowd around her were screaming.

It was as if time was running out; the rest of the team were running closer to them, and any second now they would join the hug and it wouldn't just be Lily and her brothers any more. She almost resented that.

"I love you two." James said hurriedly, as if he felt exactly the same way Lily did.

"Me too." Al replied.

Time went to fast, Lily thought. She would happily pause this exact moment forever and never grow up; she would happily never return to the common room where she only saw her brothers as other annoying family members. She had to, though, she realised. There were some things in life that she just had to do, and letting go of her brothers to celebrate with everyone else was one of those things.

Even if she didn't want to; she still had to do it.

And it worked both ways, she realised; there were lots of things that she wanted to do, even if she didn't really need to.


	68. Speaking Before Thinking

Hey guys! So sorry for the long wait, I've been ill with the flu. Stupid England.

But anyway, thank you very much for all the reviews! And the alerts and favourites aswell! Anonymous reviewers: _Amiee-x _(I'm so glad you liked the story and thanks so much for reading it all. Lucy wasn't intended to be a character but my readers really seemed to like her so I wrote her in!), _rednose _(I'm glad you liked the chapter, and that you liked the first part especially Ron's reaction!) and _HarryPotterrrrD _(Thanks so much for reading it all and I'm glad you liked it!).  
There are loads of new readers who are reading the entire story so thankyou so much for the commitment! I love you old reviewers too though. :P

I really, truly, hope you all like this chapter. A lot of people really want this, and a lot of you don't, but I hope you all love this chapter by the end!  
Reviewers; ask me anything about this story. I promise I'll answer. Anything you've ever wanted to know about the characters or what happened in Hogwarts before the story. Ask me. Go on, I dare you.

**_Disclaimer: _**_I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I would have been 3 when my first book was released!_**_

* * *

_**

**_The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please_**  
**(Chapter Sixty Eight- Speaking Before Thinking)**

To Teddy, nowhere felt like home quite like the Gryffindor common room did. Since he'd been brought up hopping between his Grandmother's, the Potter's, Shell Cottage and the Burrow, when he'd arrived at Hogwarts he'd started to realise that he could sleep anywhere he liked; he'd always have to common room to return _home_ to.

The best bit about the common room was that it didn't change. He hadn't been back here in years, and yet right now it looked exactly the same, except with different students inhabiting it.

The Potter and Weasley children didn't sit in the same place in the common room that Teddy used to; he used to love the corner nearest the portrait hole, where you could easily observe everyone else. James, Fred and the Weasleys that followed, however, had taken the corner nearest the fireplace. Teddy had even overheard some of the other kids calling it "Weasley corner".

The level to which they were famous never failed to astound him; he was a little well-known, but nowhere near to them. Everyone knew everything about them, and they acted almost completely oblivious to it. There were still little articles about them in the Prophet; not as extreme as the one after Christmas, but little snippets such as "_Did you know Roxy Weasley's officially dating Jamie Wrenshaw?"_. Teddy couldn't imagine how they handled it; living up to everyone's expectations yet still having fun and being happy in themselves; he knew he couldn't do it.

Teddy sat and waited for the rest of the family in _Weasley corner_ with James, Fred, Vic, Louis, Hugo and Jake. Roxy had been downstairs already and headed away to find Jamie, and the rest of them were still getting ready for the meal this evening.

"It's weird to be back." Teddy heard Vic mumble from by his side.

"Yeah, it is isn't it?" he replied, smiling down at her.

"It's nice, though. It reminds me of when we were here."  
"Yeah that's true." He nodded, thinking that she had hardly changed since they were last at Hogwarts; she still had the same bright blue, innocent eyes, and the same perfectly radiant hair. She still bit her lip and looked completely insecure when she thought no one was looking, and she still smiled shyly when he ran his thumb along her hand when their fingers were intertwined.

He was about to reply when the empty common room was suddenly filled with other Weasleys and Potters, who came tumbling from the stairwell at the same time.

Al looked tired; he wasn't, nor had he ever been, as excited as the others that they had won the Quidditch match. Lily hadn't seemed completely thrilled either, but James and Fred certainly made up for them in enthusiasm. Teddy watched as Rose and Scorpius greeted each other; he looked into her eyes for quite a while before he spoke, and even then he only said "hi."

Teddy and Vic weren't like that; they weren't the kind of couple that could just be silent around each other and just know that the other was alright; Vic always had to check that Teddy was happy, and Teddy always had to assure her he was.

"Right, let's get going; dinner's already over so the parents will probably be waiting for us." Fred announced as he put his arm around Anna.

Teddy nodded and made to follow, but Vic ran forward and held hands with her sister, her other hand still clasped in Teddy's and towing him along. Horribly awkwardly, his eyes caught Dominique's as they started to walk away.

How anyone could look so perfect he'd never know…

Exactly the same way he'd never know how he got himself into this mess.

He did love Victoire. He did. The thought of ever being without her made his heart physically hurt. He'd always known he was going to end up with her; even as a four year old he'd apparently said he was going to "_marry her so he could always keep her safe_." For six years they had been the only children the other knew… and then James had arrived. Even then though, Vic and Teddy had always been the closest; no one else could even get close.

They'd grown up together, but been apart just enough to not see each other as brother or sister. The same could not be said for Dom. He'd been here when she was born, not that he could remember very much of it since he was seven, but he always reminded himself of that when he thought about her too much; he'd seen her being born.

For years, he'd seen both sisters in exactly the way he was expected to; hopelessly in love with Vic but too scared to say anything, and ridiculously protective of the closest thing he had to a little sister with Dom.

Dom could say she'd forced him to fall in love with her all she liked; Teddy knew that wasn't true. He'd liked her for a long time before she'd even started trying to make him choose her.

It was the summer before her sixth year. When she was sixteen and he was twenty two, Teddy had looked at her for just a few seconds too long and nothing had ever been normal since.

He knew how wrong it was. God knows he knew how wrong it was; he was meant to be with Vic and he _loved _her. The problem was that every time he tried to convince himself of this, he also proved to himself that he felt the exact same way about Dom, but maybe even stronger.

That day when they'd kissed had been everything he'd been hoping for and everything he'd been dreading. He'd kissed her and found himself totally prepared for it all; totally prepared to be with Dom and screw the consequences; to turn his back on the rest of the world as long as he had her in his arms.

Of course, it hadn't worked out like that. He was still with Vic, and Dom was still throwing herself at every guy that would have her.

It made him feel ill, that she behaved like that just to get him out of her brain; that she did it to stop herself thinking about him. But then he realised that he did exactly the same thing with Vic; he was settling for second best, choosing the easier option so less people got hurt. It didn't necessarily mean he was any happier.

"Teddy, I hate to tell you but we did better than you did on your last Quidditch match!" James said loudly, stopping Teddy staring at Dom as they walked and making him force himself to be normal.

"Aha, yeah you wish mate."  
"We did, actually, statistically anyway. We beat them by 250, whereas you only beat Slytherin by 230."  
"Your knowledge never fails to astound me." Anna told Fred sarcastically, and Teddy laughed.

They reached the corridor on the bottom floor, to find students lining the walls.

They should have expected it really; everyone knew that there was a special dinner for the Weasleys and Potters tonight, so they were waiting excitedly for a peek at any one of them.

"Merlin, this is weird."

"It reminds me of that ball at the ministry." Fred said quietly.

"God my hand hurt from all the autographs that night." Rose laughed.

The yells of "Oh my god" and "It's James Potter!" were irritatingly loud in Teddy's ears.

"This isn't fair; why can't we go to dinner with them?" A little third year girl demanded, from their right.

"Because we're special." Fred replied with a wink.

"Oh my god, Fred Weasley just spoke to me." She squealed.  
"No, Fred Weasley just took the mess out of you." James replied, smirking, before they walked into the great hall and shut the double doors behind them.

From the craziness of the corridor, the great hall was eerily calm in comparison. The parents ran up and hugged them, and Teddy felt exactly like he always did; just like one of the family. A slightly extended, different-surnamed part of the family.

The Weasleys and Potters just had that skill; they could make anyone feel welcome no matter how different they were meant to be. The best example of this was Scorpius Malfoy, who was hugged and greeted just like the rest of them.

"Great catch on that last goal, Scorpius." Bill Weasley told the boy, who smiled in gratitude before George Weasley joined the conversation and they, and Fred and Anna, began to analyse the match. Al joined in halfheartedly as Roxy, Rose, Jamie and Hermione discussed school work in one corner. Vic and Dom turned and began to catch up on the gossip of Hogwarts, and Hugo, Jake, Lily and Louis sat down to talk to Ron and Harry.

"So, James, looking forward to leaving school?" Teddy asked, turning to the eldest boy as everyone else was absorbed in their own conversation.  
"Not particularly." He replied, sighing as they sat down.

"I was like that too; the world seems really huge, doesn't it?"  
"Yeah. And I don't know where I'm going to fit into it."

Teddy was about to reply with a supportive comment, but George shouted his name before he could.

"James!"

"Yeah?"

"Have you got the Quidditch trophy with you?"  
"Oh yes, it's just hidden." James replied sarcastically.

"Go get it, will you?" Bill asked. "We won't eat until you're back."  
"Alright then." James replied, shrugging and heading back outside, where they heard faint excited screams.

Resigned to waiting for a fair while, Teddy sat down on the nearest bench; Roxy sat opposite him and he opened his mouth to speak before Dom sat next to her, and suddenly Teddy didn't feel like he had a voice anymore.

Moments later all the older Weasley kids were sat around him; Victoire was on one side and Fred and Anna were on the other, while Jamie sat next to Roxy. Louis was there too, and Teddy wondered for a moment why he wasn't with his best friend.

"So, you and Jamie; I knew that was going to happen seven years ago!" Vic smiled, and Jamie laughed weakly in reply.

"Well, I definitely prefer him to Craig." Teddy added, knowing he was probably the only one at the table that could get away with saying it without Roxy being offended.  
"Anyone's better than Craig!" Fred laughed loudly. "I mean, he's the worse boyfriend we've had in this family-"  
"Are you deliberately forgetting all of Dom's exes?" Louis laughed.  
"Do they really count if the longest one lasted a week?" Fred retorted.

"Oi!" Dom protested weakly while smiling fakely. Teddy wondered if he was the only person that could tell just how fake she was being. "There aren't that many guys-"  
"Well, there's all the Hufflepuff guys-"  
"Everyone in my dorm." Jamie mumbled.

"Everyone in the _school."_ Louis laughed, while Teddy just stared at them.

He knew they meant it jokily; he knew that long ago they would make funny little one-line comments about Dom that would actually be funny. What he didn't know was how it had got to the point where they were being downright horrible about their own sister and cousin.

"Guys, stop it. That isn't funny." He said intensely, staring straight at Dom although no one else seemed to notice where he was looking.

"We're only joking-"  
"It isn't funny." Victoire stated. Teddy forced himself to turn away from Dom and smile down at her, proud of the fierce support she had in her eyes.

"Dom doesn't mind!" Louis complained.

All eyes turned to Dom, who looked down at the table before shaking her head. "Yeah, it hurts, actually. So can we just drop it now?"

"Yeah, sure. Sorry, Dom." Rox mumbled, looking ashamed. They fell awkwardly silent, before they all fled the table at the same moment; Fred and Anna joined conversation with George, and Roxy and Jamie chatted to Louis metres away, deliberately distancing themselves.

"That's for sticking up for me, guys." Dom mumbled quietly.

"You're my sister; I'll always stick up for you." Victoire smiled, then Teddy felt her move off the bench. "I'm going to see if I can find out what's going on with Lily and that Jake guy, want to come?" She asked Dom. Her sister shook her head, and Vic smiled and walked away.

Now it was just the two of them, and even though the rest of her family were just feet away, it felt like they were alone. Their knees were touching under the table, and try as he might Teddy just couldn't forget that.

"Come outside with me?" He asked quietly.

She looked around, before whispering back. "They'll notice if we go."

"They won't. You trust me don't you?"  
"Always." She smiled back.

So she actually did as he had asked, and stood up and walked towards the doors. No one called them back; no one even noticed they'd gone.

It dawned on him, once the unusually cool air hit him when they actually left the building, that he didn't exactly know why he'd asked her out here.

So they just walked, around the side of the castle, Dom tracing her fingers along the bricks occasionally, and neither of them saying a thing.

The fact she didn't ask why they were there also dawned on him; he wondered if she could say "no" to anything he asked of her. He wondered if she'd ever be able to refuse him.

He stopped walking, turning and looking down at her, and hating himself for everything he was thinking about his future sister in law.

"Thanks for sticking up for me." She repeated quietly, walking away from his gaze as if walking was the only thing she still remembered how to do.

"It's alright." He shrugged, trying to be nonchalant when his emotions screamed at him to tell her that he could have killed Louis for being so horrible about her.

"I've been listening to your advice though; today at the match, someone made some sleazy comment about me and I told them to go to hell."

He laughed under his breath, as she sat down on the bench nearby that Teddy didn't remember having noticed before. "Well done. Next thing you know you're going to have some painfully perfect boyfriend like Jamie-"

"Nah, he's too perfect." She replied instantly, before carrying on as Teddy raised his eyebrows at her. "I like them flawed, so I can think I'll change them."

"Wait, that means you think I'm flawed!" He pretended to complain.

"Well, the fact you're going to marry my sister is a little bit of a flaw in our relationship." She joked all too easily, before they both looked away awkwardly.

He forced himself to speak again, with whatever came into his head. "I don't like the way we left things." He told her.

"I was never going to like the way we left things, because we were leaving things-"

"Yeah, I know, but confessing our love for each other, then walking off in different directions? That's not the way we should have ended-"

"There never was a 'we'." She replied, so harshly it almost made Teddy wince.

"Yes, there was." She didn't try to disagree this time, she just looked back down at the grass and began to pick the nail varnish off her nails. He couldn't resist, and grabbed her hands in his and found himself speaking before he'd really thought through what he wanted to say. "Look, it might be completely selfish, in fact it is completely selfish, but I want…"

How he planned to finish that sentence, he wasn't sure. He wanted a lot of things; he wanted everything to go back to normal; he wanted to be a one-woman man again. Preferably, he wanted to fall out of love with his little sister-in-law, and stay hopelessly in love with his childhood sweetheart. The other part of him, though, wanted the girl who was sat next to him and staring up at him with her large blue eyes. The other part of him totally and completely wanted Dominique.

"What?" She asked quietly. "What do you want?"

The second she asked that, he knew which part of him had won. "The only time I've kissed you was this sexual-tension filled moment where my main priority was ripping your clothes off. I didn't even think about who it was I was kissing; it didn't cross my mind that I'd finally gotten what I was hoping for."

She nodded as if she understood, and moved so she was balancing on her knees on the bench, her face almost level with his. "Right. Ok, Teddy but-"

"Whereas, if I got to do it again, I would do it properly. That's the way I'd like to leave things with us. That's the way I want to remember kissing you; not some stupid hormone filled kiss but-"

"_Do it-" She replied, biting her lip. _

"_What?"  
"Kiss me." _

_So he did. And it took all of the self-control he had to not let himself get lost in the moment. It took even more to pull his lips way from hers. _

"_What are we doing?" She asked, putting her hand on her head tiredly yet still smiling._

"_Me? I'm saying goodbye to the girl I'm hopelessly in love with and hello to my sister in law." He replied honestly. _

"_Kiss all your sisters in law like that, do you?"_

_He laughed, because really; what else was there to do?_

"_I love you." He told her, for what he promised on his parents' memory was the last time. She didn't reply, as if she'd already said it for the final time. "This is the way I wanted us to leave us."_

"_Do you really want to leave us?"_

He was sure he replied; he was sure his mouth opened and he said words but he couldn't hear them. In fact, he could hear someone else laughing; he could hear George's laugh. Why was George laughing at him-?

"Teddy? Hello?"  
He snapped his eyes open, never having realised they ever closed.

He was sat opposite Dom again, their knees still touching, but Vic was next to them and the others had fled.

"Babe, what happened?" Vic asked him worriedly.

"Just daydreaming." Teddy replied, unable to look up and let his eyes meet Dom's. He didn't know why though; she'd never know what he'd just dreamt of.

"About what?"  
"You." He lied automatically.

"Me? Really?"  
"Yeah, Vic, I love you." He replied, sensing Dom's legs moving out from under the table and then seeing her walk towards her father out of the corner of his eye.

"I love you too." She smiled, before pressing her lips to his.

She didn't smile as brightly as Dom did.

Vic was far more innocent and couldn't read him as easily as her sister.

Vic's lips didn't taste the same as Dom's had back in Summer, but they were almost the same.

And Teddy just figured that _almost the same_ was just going to have to be enough from this moment on.

…

James had just won the Quidditch Cup. He had just _won the Quidditch Cup. _After years of dreaming about this and months of planning it, he had finally_ won the Quidditch Cup. _He was the first Potter in twenty five years to _win the Quidditch Cup. _

So why doesn't he feel happy the way he thought he would? He's glad they won, sure, but he thought he'd feel some sort of satisfaction or achievement; after seven years in school the Quidditch win was all he was really going to have to show for it. Yet he didn't feel proud; he didn't feel like he'd achieved anything. And now he had less than a month left at Hogwarts, and nothing to prove he'd gotten anything out of it.

The Great Hall looked bigger, somehow, when there was only his family in it; instead of loud, gossipy conversation there was just quiet, sensible chats between the children and their parents they hadn't seen in ages.

He was stood watching; everyone had turned away into their own conversations and James couldn't be bothered to join in.

"So James," Teddy's voice came from his left. "Looking forward to leaving school?"

James shrugged and walked towards the nearest seat at a table.

Teddy was the nearest thing James had ever had to a big brother; there used to be nothing the two of them didn't talk about. Something about Teddy had changed lately, though; not overly obviously he just seemed a little more distracted. The fact he was getting married also made James feel ridiculously young next to him; looking back, he would never imagine Teddy getting married. Here James was, worrying about leaving school, while the guy next to him was pretty much about to sign his life away.

James was jealous of Teddy though, for hundreds of reasons. Everything always worked out for Teddy; he was getting married to the girl of his dreams, he had the exact job he'd always wanted, he was part of their family without the pressure of the Potter surname, everyone loved him and in their eyes he could do no wrong… James wished he could live as carefree-ly as Teddy seemed to.

"Not particularly." He replied quietly; now the match was over all anyone seemed to be able to talk about was that he was leaving school soon. It was dawning on him all too quickly.

The rest of them seemed to have their plans; Fred and Anna had each other and Roxy was bound to leave with the most perfect grades imaginable. Dom was the most similar to James since she didn't clearly have a plan and was on her own, but she was so strong that James knew she would get whatever she wanted out of life.

"I was like that too." Teddy replied sympathetically. "The world seems really huge, doesn't it?"  
"Yeah, and I don't know where I'm going to fit into it." He sighed honestly. Where would he fit? He'd just be a Potter; there were thousands of expectations on him already in a world that barely knew who he was. He didn't know what he expected of himself. That was the problem; he didn't know what he wanted any more.

Teddy nodded understandingly, looking as if he was about to say something before George shouted his name from behind him.

"Yeah?" James asked, standing and turning towards them.

"Have you got the Quidditch trophy with you?"

"Oh yes, it's just hidden." James replied, hearing Teddy laugh a little from beside him.

"Go get it, will you?" Uncle Bill asked, and James groaned. "We won't eat until you're back."

James shrugged and agreed, before heading for the door. He was secretly glad of the opportunity to leave again; to get away from his ridiculously perfect family.

He opened the door to screams of excitement from the teenagers lining the corridor. They chanted his name and James just looked down at the floor. If this was what he could expect when he entered the _real world; _people chanting his name and pushing others out of the way to get a glimpse of him, then he didn't want it.

He wished, sometimes, for a normal childhood. For a boring surname and a boring family. He knew that Al and Lily felt it too sometimes, but to admit it out loud to each other would be some kind of blasphemy.

He ignored all the screaming girls again, pushing past them and walking up to the common room. Some of them followed for a little way, so he was forced to practically run to get rid of them.

The common room, once he'd managed to get up there, was almost empty. The whole school, it seemed, had decided to stalk James and his family for the day.

However, it was only _almost _empty.

At first, James didn't recognise the girl that was sat on his seat on the sofa, hugging a cushion close to her chest. Taking a few steps towards her, however, he saw exactly who it was.

"Er, Louisa, what are you doing here?" He asked her cautiously. For a moment he thought she just hadn't heard him, but then she jumped out of her seat and dropped the cushion awkwardly.

"Oh, er, hi." She replied, looking at the floor uncomfortably. "I, er, Craig's got a new girlfriend, some Laura Spinnet girl, and I really can't stand being alone in my dorm with just those two so I came to see if there was anyone else to talk to but, er, there's no one here-"  
"They're all outside the Great Hall." He replied automatically, hating the way she wouldn't quite look him in the eye.

"Why?"  
"Because… my family are eating in there."

He hated having to actually say that out loud. He hated how big headed it sounded and he hated that it was even true.

Louisa looked up though, and seemed sympathetic. "Oh, yeah, I knew about that. I should have worked it out sooner-"  
"Yeah."

He nodded and looked around the room, having completely forgotten why he had even headed up to Gryffindor tower. He hated how awkward everything was; he hated that he couldn't just spill out every thought that was running through his head.

He wanted to say he was sorry, and he wanted to say that she was right about that night meaning everything to him. He wanted to say that he'd missed her and that he hated how much she'd changed without him being around to watch.

And then he wondered why he couldn't say it all out loud; he didn't know what was stopping him or what he was so afraid of. In a few months, he would be far away from Hogwarts anyway; he had nothing to lose.

So he let himself say the first thought that popped into his mind.

"You've straightened your hair." Was all he said.

He cursed his brain for letting him down as she nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah, I thought I'd try out a few of those spells." She twisted her fingers through the ends of it, before biting her lip. "I don't really suit it so-"  
"No, don't get me wrong you look really nice!" James found himself saying all too instantly. "You just don't look like my-" He stopped himself. _She wasn't his. _"You don't look like you."  
"Yeah, I don't feel much like me lately." She said sadly, and James hated himself even more than he had less than a moment ago.

"I'm sorry." He allowed himself to say, his brain fought his mouth to say more but he resisted. He couldn't help but take a few steps towards her, though, and she looked up at him and smiled just a little.

"I know."

"You don't. You can't know how sorry I am. I can't believe I left you. I-I just can't believe I did that. And then I didn't have the guts to come and find you and apologise and every day I avoided you just made it worse and… You know it meant everything to me, don't you?"

She nodded. "I do know that."

She looked honest, so heartbreakingly honest and sad that all James wanted to do was hug her and make sure the world would never disturb them again.

"But you shouldn't be sorry, I deserved it." She continued, and James shook his head adamantly.

"No! No, you don't deserve it. How could you ever think that-?"  
"I did deserve it. I slept with Craig."

It still hurt him to hear her say it. Somehow, though, it didn't make him angry; it just hurt. It didn't make him want to punch anyone, it just felt like a dull scar in his heart throbbed a little.

"You did that because I dumped you, though." He defended her.  
"But you did that because I lied to you about Rose-"  
"And you did that because you're a good person."

She blinked up, seemingly not being able to reply to that.

"I should never have gotten angry at you. If I'd only understood back then, everything would be so different."

He wondered just how different it would be. He would still be with her; not even a little part of his mind doubted that. He would have apologised, learnt from his mistakes, and never let her go again. Part of him wished he could still do that.

"We could do this forever, couldn't we? Argue about who's to blame or who was more hurt or who feels more guilty, but we'd never really get anywhere, would we?" She didn't look sad anymore. She looked strong, like the Louisa from last year that used to yell at him for staying up too late. "I wish we could just stop the drama now. Maybe we should just except that I hurt you-"  
"And I hurt you-"  
"And call it even."

James nodded. For all his self-loathing, part of him knew he wasn't completely at fault. He was happy to call it even, and just let it go. He would love to just _let it go. _

"But now what?" He asked, his brain once again controlling his mouth.

"We could be friends."  
Too quickly, he shook his head. "No. I could never be friends with you."

She bit her lip, and looked at the floor. "Oh-"  
He dared to step towards her again before continuing "you mean too much to me to be friends."

"So, what?" She asked, squirming at how close he was to her. "We'll just leave school in a month or so and forget the other existed?"

He stepped away from her, nodding. Was that really what she wanted?

Maybe she wasn't in the same place as him? Maybe she didn't feel the same way he did? Maybe she didn't think that living without him would never be as good as living with him.

"We could." He shrugged awkwardly in agreement, before forcing himself to turn away from her before she saw the look on his face.

He started to walk away, but then he started to wonder why he was leaving. What could he possibly have to lose by just admitting how he felt?

"What if I don't want to forget you? What's my other option?" He asked, turning back around and facing her.

She just smiled, before replying "Kiss me."  
He'd never been one to turn her down before.

He strode towards her, threading his hands into her unusually straight hair before bending his head down to meet her lips with his.

And then he actually thought the world stopped.

It wasn't like that night; that night he'd been all too angry with her and desperate to prove something (he still wasn't sure what) to himself. This time, he was just happy to have her back. He wasn't going to ever let her go, even if she wanted him to.

"I love you." He told her minutes later, allowing his brain to announce the only thing that was still clear.

"I love you too." She replied, smiling wider than he'd seen anyone smile in months.

He could feel her heart beat through his shirt; he didn't think he ever needed to feel or see anything else again.

He bent his head down again, preparing himself to revisit heaven, before she leant back a little.

"Don't tell anyone, yeah?" She whispered, still smiling. "Just… for a little while, don't let anyone interfere. Just let it be us."  
He was going to suggest it anyway, but he didn't tell her that. Instead he smiled cheekily (a smile he'd almost forgot he even had), before replying "as long as I have you, I don't even care."

And that was true. He didn't think he'd ever care about anything ever again, for as long as he had her.


	69. Simple, Really

Hey everyone. I apologise for the long wait, again, but life just keeps getting in the way.

So, thanks to all you readers/reviewers/alerters/favouriters, especially to you lovely newbies. :D I'm now over 300 favourites and alerts, and I can't believe it. Anonymous reviewers, thankyou to you all; _rednose _(I'm glad you liked it, thanks for reviewing!), _WeasleyisourKING _(Thanks for reading it all! Hope you enjoy the future chapters and carry on reviewing.), _Amiee-x _(Lucy's going to be back soon. And I'm glad you liked the chapter and that you've changed your mind about Louisa! She's lovely!), _Britt _(Yay, I'm glad you're happy!), _Lorrry _(Thanks so much for saying such nice things! I may have, erm, calculated everyone's ages perfectly… :L But anyway, I'm glad you liked the James and Louisa-ness and the Teddy-Dom bit) and _Amazingwonder_ (I'm glad I cheered you up, and thanks for the review). Hopefully, I replied to the rest of you!

This chapter has the long awaited moody-Al explanation and lots and lots (five pages worth) of Scorpius and Rose, which I know lots of you have been looking forward to. Hope it's worth the wait guys, please review! Feel free to ask me anything you like!  
Oh, and you guys can have some fun; if I tell you that the next POVs are Fred then Lily, what do you reckon is going to happen?

**_Disclaimer: _**_(To the tune of Frare Jacques)Harry Potter, (Harry Potter), Isn't mine, (Isn't mine), He is JK Rowling's, (He is JK Rowling's), *Something Something…*Line?

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Sixty Nine- Simple, Really)**

Al didn't wake up in his bed this morning.

It wasn't like it was the first time this had happened; he woke up in the room of requirement with Maddie quite often. That wasn't why he was so distracted.

He was distracted because he'd woken up with Laura Spinnet, not his girlfriend.

From the second his eyes had opened, he'd felt horrible. Her hair was too much darker than Maddie's, she didn't lean towards him the same way Maddie did in her sleep, she pulled too much of the blanket over her and left Al freezing cold… She was not his girlfriend.

He'd woken up that morning, practically ran back to Gryffindor tower without saying a word to Laura and climbed into the common room in the same clothes he'd worn the night before.

And Maddie was curled up on the sofa, wearing his Quidditch hoody, her eyes horribly red.

He'd never felt guilt quite like that before. He almost wanted to stab himself in the stomach, just to give himself some physical pain to concentrate on instead of the mental torture. And the guilt still hadn't gone away, hours later.

He had planned to tell her straight away. He woke her up softly and was about to tell her everything before she burst into tears and apologised, her arms wrapping around his neck and her tears soaking into his shirt. He'd tried to tell her not to be sorry, and that she didn't need to be, but somehow the words wouldn't come. He couldn't admit it, like admitting it made it real.

So he put it off. He told himself he'd tell her later, and had been distracted for the rest of the day while he naively tried to think of a way to tell his girlfriend he'd cheated on her without breaking her heart.

That was why he'd been so unbelievably useless in the Quidditch match today.

That was why he'd hardly batted an eyelash when he'd walked in on Scorpius and Rose asleep in his dorm that morning.

That was why he wished he was anywhere in the world other than in the hall with his family.

He couldn't exactly hold a conversation in this state.

The worst part was that Maddie was so happy. She'd been so nervous about meeting his parents, even though he'd assured her she had no reason to be. He'd been right of course; his parents had adored Maddie. Why wouldn't they adore her? Who in their right mind wouldn't like her?

Who in their right mind would ever hurt her?

She looked adorable today, but that just made Al feel worse. She looked cute and she looked innocent; telling her what he did would be like stabbing a pygmy puff.

He sat and thought this, watching blankly as Maddie chatted to Aunt Hermione while eating dessert. His cousins and siblings didn't really try to talk to him; they may not have understood what was wrong with him, but they all seemed to get that he wasn't alright. Al had never been more grateful that his family weren't the nosy type; if one of them out-and-out asked him what was wrong, he wouldn't be able to lie.

At least they'd eaten nice food, Al thought. That was the only positive moment of the day. When James had returned (without the Quidditch trophy, Merlin knows why) they'd sat down to a meal of all the Weasley and Potter Hogwarts favourites; shephard's pie and mash potato, or lamb and Yorkshire puddings, then the coveted treacle tart. At least there had been an element of comfort food to the day.

When they finished eating, they scattered around the hall again. Al found himself sat with his brother, father and Jake, and forced himself to try and act normally, at least in front of his Dad.

"Lily was good in the match today, wasn't she?" Al's Dad commented, and the four of them observed as Lily laughed at something Fred did.

"Yeah, she was." James nodded, happily. "I'm glad I let her join the team-"  
"Yeah, eventually!" Al teased.

James laughed. "Yeah, well I was trying to protect her. I guess that's not really my job anymore." He looked pointedly at Jake, and Al squirmed a little; boyfriends were meant to _protect_ their girlfriends, not _cheat_ on them.

"Well, I try." Jake shrugged. "She's her own person though, it's not like anyone could control her-"  
"Yeah, she's like her mother." Al's Dad smiled. "She's lucky, though, to have all three of you looking out for her."

"That's what you do when you love someone." Jake smiled, still watching Lily.

"You love her?" Al asked, turning his head and blinking at the younger boy.

Al had never said he loved anyone. He'd never said he loved Maddie even though… Well, he thought he did. Do you cheat on someone you love, though?

"Of course."

"Well, I'm glad." James smiled, jumping up. "It's good that everyone's so happy." Then he practically skipped away.

"I'm going to go chat to Lils." Jake stood up and left, and Al was left with his father.

"I like Maddie." Harry Potter said quietly. "She's lovely."  
"She's perfect."

Al's father nodded, then turned towards him. "Not like Lily though."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, what we were just saying about Lily being independent; forgive me for saying, but Maddie doesn't seem like that. She seems to rely on you."

Al nodded, guilt bubbling up through his stomach and towards his throat, burning to be said.

"I'm glad you're happy though."  
"Yeah, I am happy." Al stated, standing. "It was nice to see you Dad, I'm glad you met Maddie." He said, knowing how absurdly formal he sounded, but not caring because he had to get away. He couldn't handle the guilt anymore, not for another moment.

He walked towards Maddie, then grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, resolving not to keep it a secret for even a second longer.

"Al, what are you-?"  
"Sorry for being rude, I just really need to talk to you."  
"Can't it wait?"  
"No."

He pulled her into the far corner of the hall, ignoring the looks from some of his family as he did so.

"What is it?" She asked warily.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. So, so sorry."  
"We've already done this. I'm sorry too-"  
"Yeah, but Maddie-" "Al began.

"I've had such a wonderful evening. Your family are great, do you know that?" Maddie asked, looking over at the rest of them and smiling.

"Yeah, Maddie I know-" Al began.

"I love you."

Al just stared. _Had she actually just said that?_

"Crap, I know I probably shouldn't have told you like that but I- I do." Her eyes darted nervously, and she bit her lip. "Please don't freak out on me. I'm sorry."

Al realised he was just staring. He realised he needed to reply somehow, but he didn't know what with.

"I love you too." Fell out of his mouth. He didn't know if it was true, he wasn't sure he knew what it meant, but he loved the smile it brought to her face.

He must have looked into her eyes for a little too long, because suddenly he changed his mind and decided he didn't want to tell her the truth at all. He realised he had the completely wrong ideas; if he really wanted to protect her from harm, he should be trying to make sure she never found out about Laura, not be telling her.

"You do?"  
"Yeah, I really do."

He thought that maybe he did love her. After all, love meant that you would do anything you could to look after the other person, and he decided in this moment that he'd do everything he could to protect Madeline from the truth.

…

It's difficult to have a sensible conversation with your girlfriend's Uncle when your best friend's pulling on your arm impatiently, and Scorpius found this out the hard way.

The situation was only made more difficult as George Weasley smirked as he spoke, seemingly knowing Al was annoying Scorpius and just testing how long Scorpius would put up with it for.

"That fourth save was really impressive." George smiled.

"Yeah, thanks sir, I got quite annoyed with myself for missing that next goal-"  
"I wouldn't do, you were outnumbered three to one."

Scorpius moved his arm away from Al as his best friend moaned and shifted on his feet impatiently.

George bit his lip as if resisting the urge to laugh. "Well, you won the game, so you shouldn't worry either way."

"That's true." Scorpius smiled.  
"Scorpius…"  
"Something to say, Al?" George asked.

"I really need to speak to Scorpius, Uncle George. It's kind of urgent."  
"Urgent, eh?" George smirked again.

"Yes."  
"Go for it." He shrugged before Al yanked Scorpius' arm hard and pulled him into the corner of the room.

"You're so rude, Al, you do know that don't you? It's like you have no concept of manners-"  
"You sound like Rose." Al pulled a face.

"Well, what's so urgent?" Scorpius demanded.

Al bit his lip, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I need our room tonight." He mumbled.  
"What?" Scorpius asked, incredulously. There was no way that Al would interrupt a conversation just to kick Scorpius out of his room.  
"I'm really sorry mate, but I really need our room-"  
"And where am I meant to go?"  
"Room of requirement?" he suggested.  
"Why don't you go there?" Scorpius questioned.

Al looked to the floor. "I don't want to." He mumbled.

Ignoring his best friends bizarre behaviour at the mention of the room of requirement, Scorpius nodded. "You owe me."  
"Fine. Fine, I'll, er-"  
"You'll let me have our room twice, no complaints, whenever I want it-"  
"Ew, but that's like giving you permission to… Eugh."  
"It's that or nothing." Scorpius shrugged, and Al groaned, taking his hand and shaking it.

Scorpius sighed, turning back to the rest of the hall and smiling to himself.

He knew it was wrong, but the people stood before him felt more like a family to him than his own ever had. They were so much easier to talk to, so much more willing to smile and laugh and cry and, well, _feel. _

"What was all that about?" Rose asked when he stood next to her.  
"Al's kicked me out." Scorpius replied.

"You're kidding?"  
"Nope. But I made a good deal on it, so it's alright."

Rose didn't ask questions, just nodded a little as if she already understood. "So, you're all alone in the room of requirement tonight, then?" She asked, turning and looking up at him all too sweetly.

"It would seem that way."

She smiled a little, then raised her eyebrows. "Maybe you won't be alone." She said flirtily, before turning and walking towards her mother, looking back and smirking at him once.

Scorpius hated how easily she could make him want her. And in front of her family, as well.  
He'd be angry with her, if he wasn't so tempted to chase after her and kiss her instead.  
"Scorpius, may I have a word with you?"  
Scorpius wheeled round and came face to face with Ron. He blushed, as if somehow Rose's Dad could read his mind.  
"Yes, sir."

Ron nodded, before walking away to the furthest table and sitting at it. Scorpius followed, sitting opposite him and still trying to get his breathing back to a completely normal and not-at-all-suspicious pace.

"I'd like you to be honest with me, Scorpius."  
"Always, sir."

He shook his head. "You don't need to call me sir."

Unsure how to reply, Scorpius just nodded.

"There's no easy way to ask this, but it's much easier to ask you than it is to ask Rose, so here goes. Are you in a physical relationship with my daughter?"  
Within seconds, Scorpius felt more awkward than he ever had. He didn't think he'd ever been this uncomfortable in his entire life. His shirt and tie felt too tight around his neck and he was incredibly tempted to run straight from the hall and jump into the black lake and never come back up. "Oh, er-"  
"Dad, what's going on?"

Never before had Scorpius been so thankful for Rose's appearance. Then, however, it dawned on him that she may have to be involved in this interrogation, and all he wanted to do was to scream at her to leave.

She didn't leave though; she sat down next to him and linked her hand with his under the table. That just made him unable to meet Ron's eyes.

"Well, Rose, I was just asking Scorpius about your relationship."  
"What about us?"

Scorpius watched as Ron looked up at the fake sky. Rose's father seemed just as uncomfortable as Scorpius was. "Well, er, I was just enquiring-"  
"Enquiring?" Rose echoed sarcastically.

"Enquiring, as to whether the two of you are, er, in a-" He loosened his tie, before swallowing and continuing speedily. "Physical relationship."

Scorpius turned and watched Rose's reaction, but instead of looking embarrassed, she just smiled knowingly and squeezed Scorpius' hand. "Physical relationship? What does that mean, Dad?" she asked, innocently raising her eyebrows.

"Well, Rose, er…" Scorpius felt sorry for the man before him, praying his daughter didn't get Rose's evil streak. Then he realised he'd just thought about having a daughter with Rose, and kicked himself. "Are the two of you, er, intimate?"  
"Intimate? I don't understand."  
"Are you two having sex?" Ron demanded quickly and loudly, every other conversation in the room stopping horribly abruptly.

"Oh, woah, forget Quidditch; this is far more interesting!" George exclaimed, turning to watch them. The rest of the family looked as well, even the girls who just tilted their heads subtly. Scorpius could hear Louis mumbling in the corner, repeating "this is hilarious; so, so hilarious" to himself and Hugo, while Al and Maddie struggled not to laugh on the other side. Fred and James shook their heads threateningly, and Anna, Dom and Roxy cringed.

"Yes, Dad." Rose replied far too easily into the silence. "I'm seventeen; I'm allowed."

Ron nodded. "Hermione, you were right." He stated, shaking his head. Scorpius didn't allow himself to think about the origin of that sentence.

"Oh, for god's sake Ronald!" Rose's mother stomped towards them, folding her arms. "This is the most embarrassing-"

"Rose, be careful." Ron ignored his wife, and Scorpius looked up to notice that Ron's eyes were locked on Scorpius', steadily. "If he's ever pressured you-"  
"Ha!" The four of them turned to look at Al, suprisedly. "If anyone's pressured anyone, it's Rose to Scorpius!"

Unsure what else to do, Scorpius put his head in his hands. He wished the floor would collapse, and that he would fall into the centre of the world below.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" Al mumbled.

"Yes, well done Al!" James laughed, while Fred gave up and doubled over in laughter.

"Right, well-"  
"I think it's time for us to go." Hermione sighed, pulling Ron up. The other adults had, like the children, descended into laughter, but reluctantly said their goodbyes and left swiftly, with Hermione hurrying them along.

Scorpius was surprised by how quickly it felt like they'd never even been there. He found himself looking at Rose's cousins awkwardly, all of them looking around as if wondering the last few hours had actually been real.

"Well, that was entertaining!" Fred joked, smiling and taking Anna's hand. "Room of requirement?" He suggested to her.

Before she had chance to reply, though, James interrupted. "Actually, you two can have our dorm to yourselves if you like?"

"And where would you go?"  
"The Room of Requirement."  
"You can't." Rose shrugged. "Scorpius is sleeping in there."

James and Fred just raised their eyebrows, and smirked.

Ten minutes later, Scorpius found himself running full-pelt through the corridors, unsure how he had ended up there. All he knew was that he was racing James, and the first to reach the Room of Requirement got to sleep there. Fred and Anna cheered James along, running close behind and laughing, while Rose, Al and Maddie cheered Scorpius' name. The rest of them followed, some, like Roxy, just looking bored. Some of the girls and boys that had been outside the Great Hall followed confusedly, chanting Potter yet not completely understanding why.

Where was he meant to sleep if he lost, Scorpius wondered. He'd already made a deal with Al, so he wasn't allowed his own dorm back, he couldn't sleep in the girls' dorms… Where exactly was he meant to go?

James was quite far ahead, a few steps higher on the stairs. He span around, before shouting "Scorpius, I'm really sorry about this and I owe you-"  
"What?"  
And then James Potter cursed him. Scorpius' legs turned to jelly and he managed to get to the top of the stairs before he had to stop and lean against the banister.

"Sleep on my sofa, it's really comfortable!" James yelled over his shoulder.

"James Sirius Potter, are you kidding?" Rose shouted after him down the corridor, stopping and staring at Scorpius.

"I'm sorry!" James repeated.

"Wow, he really wants that room all to himself, doesn't he?" Fred pulled a face. "Who knew alone-time meant so much to him?"

Al laughed as Rose flicked her wand and reversed the curse on Scorpius. "Right, well now you have to let Scorpius stay in your room."  
"No, we made a deal."

"We did make a deal." Scorpius shrugged, beginning to walk in the direction of Gryffindor. "I'll just sleep in the common room, I guess."  
"Scorp, don't let Al do this-"  
"It's not a big deal." Scorpius shrugged, "and we agreed."

Twenty minutes or so later, Scorpius was curled up on James and Fred's sofa in the common room, surprised by how comfortable it was. Everyone else had gone to bed, Rose having given up on fighting for him and saying goodnight. Al and Maddie were in Scorpius' room; he'd not even had time to get his bed covers out of the room before he'd seen things he never wanted to see again.

And now here he was, attempting to sleep knowing what was going on above him. He pretty much resigned himself to the idea of a sleepless night.

He closed his eyes, no matter how useless it may have been.

At the sound of footsteps he shot up, his eyes darting around.

Rose stood at the foot of the stairs, her hair in adorable plaits and wearing checked pink pyjamas that he was pretty sure he recognised from first year when she hadn't been able to sleep on the first night, so had roomed with Al.

"What are you-?"  
"I felt sorry for you down here all on your own." She shrugged, walking towards him.

Scorpius pinched himself under the duvet, wondering if he'd fallen asleep already.

"Budge up." She commanded, so Scorpius arched his back against the sofa and she settled down in front of him.

At seventeen years old, Scorpius liked to think he was well in control of himself nowadays. It wasn't like when he was fourteen, and had to run off to his dorm almost every time Rose sucked on the end of her quill while they wrote essays. No, nowadays he could control himself perfectly. He thought it was because he was used to her by now; he wasn't spending his time fantasising, he was actually _doing. _So, with the back of Rose's body completely pressed against him, he was nothing but comfortable.

"What are you thinking?" She mumbled, her voice echoing around the room a little.

He figured he wouldn't repeat what was really happening in his mind, where his old teenage hormones were fighting to get the better of him. "Just, how different things would be if we weren't together. Like, if you hadn't given me your diary-"  
"Or if you hadn't followed me."  
"Exactly."

"Well what do you think? What would be different?"  
"Everything." He replied easily. "I would still be miserable-"  
"I still wouldn't be talking to Al-"  
"I wouldn't be on the Quidditch team-"  
"I'd probably have done something I'd regret, like going out with Dave."  
Scorpius shuddered. "Don't even joke about that."

He could be as lovely as he liked, he still got jealous if he imagined Rose with anyone but him. He was too used to having him with her to ever be able to cope with it. He didn't ever want to take her for granted, but he couldn't imagine not having her as _his _for the rest of time.

As he thought this, she turned around, her knees resting between his and her chest pressed against his.

"You know how much I love you, don't you? I love you so much, and my parents seem to too, and everything's just so perfect these days that I can't ever imagine it going wrong."  
"I know. I love you too, more even."  
She bit her lip. "Do you think we'll last?"

He nodded, his fingers skimming the ends of her hair.

"Really? Through all the growing up, and going into the real world and-?"  
"I'll never give up on you. On us."  
"Me neither."

She tilted her head, kissing him and snaking her hands around to his back, pulling herself closer to him.

"What are you doing?" He smirked as she moved her hand under his shirt.

She smiled back. "Being in a 'physical relationship' with you, as my Dad would put it."  
"Please, don't bring up your Dad right now." He requested, letting the fourth year boy in his head take over and moving his hands to her waist.

"Deal."  
Scorpius wasn't sure he'd ever need anything more than this; the world could throw what it liked at him, as long as he had her to look after him and as long as he knew he could make her smile. For as long as and Rose were together, he wasn't sure he'd ever have to worry about anything again.

Some would call it naïve, to rest all his happiness on one girl at the age of seventeen, but to Scorpius she was the only thing he was sure about; she was the only thing he'd ever want.


	70. Doesn't Feel Right

Hey guys. It's only been twelve days! I'm actually proud of myself as far as updating goes. New chapter very soon (Louis and Scorpius, guys!) since I've already written the first half!

As always, thanks to all my readers and alerters and favouriters and… Yeah. I didn't get as many reviews as normal; I feel like I'm being punished!  
As always, thanks to my anonymous reviewers as well; _sirblack _(Thanks for starting- keep reviewing!), _rednose _(Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like the chapter and I'm especially glad you think Rose is cool.), _Lorrry _(I'm glad you liked the chapter, thanks for reviewing! You're right, Al is a dumbass. And nice guesses about the chapter!), _MEE _(I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I'm glad you like Louisa aswell. Sorry for taking so long; here's the new chapter. Thanks for reviewing!)) and _HP Fan _(I'm glad you liked the chapter, thanks for reviewing and you're right Al and Maddie were honest before!). Hopefully I replied to all the rest of you!

Hope you guys like this chapter, I may return to the second half later, but I wanted to give you this chapter as soon as I could.

**_Disclaimer: _**_This year, I'm going to the HP premiere even if it kills me, since it's the last film. *sniff* Sadly, this just reminds me that Harry Potter isn't mine. If it was then the magic never would have ended!

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventy- Doesn't Feel Right)**

Fred didn't sleep at all. And not in the good way.

Sure, he had Anna lying next to him, but they'd just curled up next to each other and she'd fallen asleep. And Fred had been wide awake all night, his mind whirring and chugging as he tried to… He didn't even know what he was trying to do.

He was fed up of pretending to be okay, and fed up that people were yet to notice that he was pretending. His best friend was in his own little world, his sister was far too loved up to notice if Fred even lost a leg, Dom was too distant and the younger ones just wouldn't care.

Anna had noticed, but Fred couldn't talk about it with her.

It was about six am when she woke up, her eyes fluttering open on his chest. She reached backwards as if to roll over, but whilst squinting around the room her eyes caught Fred's.

"You're awake?" She asked, tiredly, her head tilting awkwardly as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, but shh, go back to sleep." She ignored him, continuing to look at him with her eyes focusing, before she wiggled up so her head lay on the pillow next to him. She didn't close her eyes, though; she continued to look at him in a half-sleepy, half-knowing look that Fred thought was completely adorable. "Seriously, go to sleep, it's early." He repeated.  
She shook her head. "Why can't you sleep?"

"I, just," He struggled to think of a lie. "I just can't."

"Why? What's wrong?"  
He stared back at her, her eyes so green and focused he wondered if she was hypnotising him.

He wished he could tell her, but he'd agreed not to. He wish he could just tell her some of it, he wished he could be vague or just say he'd had an argument with his Dad, but it wouldn't explain everything. It was almost all or nothing with what he told her, and he'd sworn he'd stick with nothing.

He blamed his father for all of this.

_He hadn't planned to, but he couldn't help but treat his Dad differently when he visited this time. He didn't find himself laughing at his father's jokes or making fun of his sister with him, he just found himself staring at his Dad and wondering how much he really knew about him. _

_George Weasley wasn't stupid, though, and pulled Fred out of the Great Hall while they waited for James to return. They sat awkwardly on a bench for what felt like hours before anyone spoke, Fred just felt his Dad's eyes on him. _

_He hated the way he felt like he was being studied, until he realised that was probably the way he'd been looking at his Dad for the past few days. _

"_You're upset." His Dad finally decided to say, Fred almost shocked by the consideration that seemed to go into every word._

"_Yes, Dad." He replied, his own words sounding quite brutal out loud.  
"Why? Is there something going on with Anna or James or-?"_

"_No, Dad, it's not them." He shook his head. "It's you, Dad, that letter-"  
"Oh."_

_His father turned away from him, looking down at his feet as the wind suddenly seemed to blow more ferociously. _

"_Dad, why can't I tell Rox?" Fred asked simply, a little annoyed at his Dad's almost complete refusal to acknowledge it. _

"_What difference would it make?" His father asked back. _

"_Dad, it's like our entire childhood was a lie!" He replied, too quickly and too honestly, his thoughts suddenly spilling out of his mouth out of frustration at the whole situation. "I feel like we're not meant to be your children; we're meant to be Fred's." He considered how much that sentence could hurt his father, but when his Dad didn't even flinch Fred continued. "I just can't handle that. I need Rox to know so I can see what she thinks about it-" _

"_But what difference will it make?" He repeated._

"_I'll just know what I'm meant to think or do-" Fred attempted to explain. _

"_But what difference will it make?" _

"_Stop asking that! It won't make a difference, I know that! It won't stop me looking back and seeing all the hints at it from where we were kids, or stop me wondering how different everything could be." His Dad finally dared to look at him, and that just made Fred angrier. All he wanted was a conversation. A sensible, grown-up conversation that would make him understand everything. When his father was acting like a child, that wasn't going to happen. "Roxy needs to know, she deserves to-"_

"_Lots of people deserve lots of things!" His Dad snapped. _

_Fred didn't often argue with his father. Roxy was the argumentative one, Fred just tended to stand at the back and nod. He wasn't this time, though; he hated that he was the one was trying to get through and understand and he hated that his Dad was shouting at him when he didn't deserve it and-_

"_My children, and my family, deserve to be happy." George continued. "Hell, I deserve to be happy!" He placed his head in his hands, sighing bitterly then turning his face to look back at Fred. "More than all that though, my brother deserves to be alive. People don't always get what they deserve, Fred."_

_He shook his head, and Fred forgot his anger and just felt sympathy. _

"_Dad-" he began, not sure what he was planning on saying next._

_His father just leant back on the bench uncomfortably, and pressed the palms of his hands together as he continued. "I hope and pray that you never have to go through the pain of anything like that. If you ever do then I'll have failed you. I'll genuinely do anything to protect you from that hurt and that includes not letting Roxy find out the truth. You're stronger than she is, you can handle this. Do you really think she could?"_

_Fred found himself shaking his head, knowing that his wonderfully strong, independent sister could not cope if she heard that her Mum was meant to be with her Dad's brother. Her family was what made her strong; they allowed her to be herself. If she found out the truth then she would crumble, and Fred knew that. He'd been trying to rationalise himself with that thought for months now, but he couldn't get rid of one nagging thing. "But Dad-"  
"I know she should know; that she needs to know the truth." Fred resisted the urge to smile when his Dad practically read his mind. "But I never even planned on telling you, I just started writing and then couldn't stop. I'm so sorry, I'd do anything to unwrite it. I'd do anything to make you ok again. What can I do?" He sounded almost desperate, and Fred couldn't think of an answer. _

_What would make it better, he wondered? _

"_Tell me it all."_

"_What?" _

"_Tell me it all. I don't want the vague explanation I have, I want the complete truth." Fred found himself saying. _

_His Dad nodded as if he understood, moving on the bench so it creaked. "Ok." He breathed deeply. "Ok, your mother was Fred's girlfriend, you already know that. They went to the Yule ball together and were pretty much a couple from then on. It was weird, I never really knew much about them together. Fred and I were really close, but we weren't the serious-conversation type, you know?"_

_Fred nodded, understanding. "Besides, the times we lived in, there was more to worry about than girls." He sighed, wistfully. "He saw her as much as he could- Angie stayed at school when we left, but she visited when she could. That was the way it went for a year and a bit, and then it all fell apart. The last time she ever saw him was Bill's wedding, and then we were on the run. The next time she saw him we were fighting…and then he was gone." Fred hated the finality in that sentence; one minute his Uncle Fred was there, laughing and fighting, and the next he just wasn't. It was the part of the world that terrified him. " Neither of us were really there when he died; we couldn't help or… It was just over." Fred considered speaking, but couldn't. His Dad carried on any way, as if he hardly knew his son was there anymore. "I don't want you to think we just jumped into each other's bed the day he died. That's not what happened, of course it's not. It was five years before I even saw her again." Part of Fred wondered if George forgot which Fred he was talking to. His desperation to justify himself was so obvious that Fred didn't know what to do. "I mean, I saw her at the funeral and everything but she was still my brother's girlfriend, and I would never… I wouldn't do that. At the memorial service five years later it was just horrible. Everyone seemed fine; everyone had moved on and almost left him behind and I couldn't handle it. He was my brother, you know? And they were all getting on with their lives as if he'd never existed. They were making speeches as if they'd known him but they'd never known him like I did and I… I left. I stormed off to the common room to try and get some peace, and your Mum was there. She wasn't like the rest of them, she hadn't moved on and she wasn't alright, she was just surviving like me."_

_Fred blinked back. "So in school, on memorial day, you two-?"  
"No! God, no. We just looked after each other. We kind of healed each other for a few months; at first it was talking, and then we'd ran out of things to talk about so it was hugs, when the hugs didn't mean so much anymore and then, well, you know…" _

"_Yeah, I know." Fred replied, knowingly, feeling his heart sink towards his stomach. They'd slept together instead of talking? Who were they? How could his parents have created him in some sort of therapy session?_

"_It wasn't long before we knew you two were on the way, and then we knew we had choices and big decisions to make and …. I don't want you to think we're together because it was easier. We're not. It wasn't easier; it would have been so much simpler not to keep you and to carry on in our own little world. But we knew we had to go back to reality some time, and you two helped us do that." _

Looking back, it didn't make Fred feel any better to know everything. He'd preferred it before, when some part of his mind had told him his parents were always secretly in love and Fred's death allowed them to… He didn't know, really. He'd preferred it when it was some stupid, tragic love story in his mind, and it wasn't so _real. _He hated how real it all was.

He agreed with his Dad not to tell Roxy, and he regretted it now. He understood how hard it was for his Dad to talk about it and he knew that their father was just trying to protect her but he hated that he knew something Roxy didn't. It didn't feel right.

"You can tell me, you know?"  
"Nah, that's just it, Anna, I can't tell you." He sighed, turning away from her.

She nodded, her hand twisting around his hair. "I know you can't, or else you would've by now."  
"I'm sorry."  
"It's alright. I just don't like seeing you like this. You need to work out a way to make it better-"  
"Anna, it's one of those things that can't get better."  
"Everything can get better. You might not get rid of it but you'll learn how to cope with it."  
He shrugged. "I guess."  
Anna shifted, her hand crossing his chest and pulling herself closer to him. "You can tell me, if you need to. I know it might put you in a difficult position, but if it makes things better, you can."  
He nodded, his mouth opening and closing a little like a goldfish as he debated speaking.

He trusted her with everything he had, and everything he knew, so he decided she could know.

"Okay, well-"  
The door slammed open, James standing in the doorway looking confused.

"Fred!" He squeaked. "You need to go downstairs."  
"Good morning Anna, how are you? And you Fred? Well, you two look cosy I'll just leave you alone for a little while longer." Fred replied sarcastically, sitting up.

"Yeah, yeah right, but, er- Fred I really need you to come downstairs."  
"Why?"  
"I-I can't say it."  
"What?" Anna asked.

Fred sighed as he began to get dressed, while James continued to stutter and shuffle on his feet. "Well they both must have slept in the common room, but they don't seem like they're wearing any clothes and I can't, I can't wake them up!"

"Who?"  
"Rose and Scorpius!"

"In the common room?" Anna asked. "No way."  
"Yes way!" James shouted hysterically. "And I think my eyes are actually burning!"

Footsteps echoed down the staircase, running quickly.

"What's going on?" Louis asked from the doorway, wearing no shirt with his hair sticking up in odd angles. Hugo stood behind him, looking like he was almost sleep walking, and Jake and Al looked around confusedly.

"We heard yelling and-"  
"Nothing." Anna reasoned. "Nothing's going on."  
"Oh, yeah sure, this is nothing!" James replied sarcastically. "I'm never going to look at them in the same way, I genuinely think I need my memory wiping."  
"Why?"

"Because Rose and Scorpius are asleep together in the common room."  
"In no clothes!"

"How do you know that?"  
"Their clothes were on the floor around them."

The younger boys groaned, their hands covering their eyes. "Ew. Ew ew ew-"  
"Exactly!" James replied, darting around the room irrationally.

"That should be illegal." Louis whined.

"That's- she's my sister, ew, ew-" Hugo sighed, looking far more awake than he had before.

Fred shook his head, tiredly, before they heard another set of footsteps in the stairwell.

"Boys, what the hell is going on?" Roxy asked, Dom and Lily following her. "It's ridiculous o'clock and…"  
She continued to rant, but Fred just looked at her confusedly, his heart once again wrestling his head as he debated whether to tell her the truth. In fact, he realised, it wasn't just Roxy that he wanted to know. He wanted to tell all of them, they should all know the truth about their family.

"Did you see them?"  
"See who? The hippogriffs that were stomping up and down the stairs?"  
"No, Rose and Scorpius-"  
"What?"  
"In the common room with their clothes on the floor. The boys are having a hard time processing it." Anna replied, walking towards her friends.

"Are you serious?" Roxy asked simply, Dom shrugging while Lily's nose crinkled.  
"Yes, unfortunately." Al whined. "I'm never going to be able to go into the common room again or-"  
"This is ridiculous." Dom whispered to herself, and Fred was inclined to agree. It wasn't that the idea of _anyone_ getting it on in the common room didn't make him feel ill, or that he was completely pro-Rose-and-Scorpius-sleeping together, it just seemed like he had more important things to panic about.

"Right, that's it I'm going to wake them up-"  
"No, you're not."  
"Yes, I am."  
"What if you see something you really don't want to?" James suggested to Louis, whose face fell as he began to mouth "ew" again.

"Look, guys just go back to sleep for an hour, and we'll talk about it over breakfast." Roxy told them loudly, their panicked eyes turning to her and nodding dumbly.

"That'll be a wonderful bloody conversation? So, Scorpius, have fun sleeping with my cousin did you?" James mumbled, as the others turned up the stairs and Fred reached out to close the door to the crazy.

They all paused when the heard another set of steps. Hugo turned and counted the people around, then shrugged when he realised there was no else there could be except-  
"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy I am going to murder you!" Al shouted, half jokingly and half serious. Fred, James and Anna poked their heads out of the doorway, the other people in the family turning and standing on the stairs.

The poor blonde boy looked entirely ganged up on, his eyes bleary and confused.  
"What?" he asked, his hands running through his hair. Fred noticed his t-shirt was on backwards.

"You know what." Hugo replied, obviously trying to sound menacing but failing miserably.  
"Er-"  
"You and Rose."  
"We've been going out for sixth months, if you've only just realised then-"  
"You and Rose _last night_." Roxy replied, while the boys shook their heads.

"Oh."  
"Yes, oh."  
"The common room, really?"  
"We only slept." He lied, uneasily. Fred just raised his eyebrows weakly.

No one seemed to come up with a response, since they all knew the truth but none of them wanted to say it out loud.

"Look, you really love her don't you?" Fred asked, wishing more than anything for this whole thing to be over so he could stop looking at Roxy guiltily.  
"Yeah, of course I do." Scorpius nodded.  
"Then we're glad she has you." Dom smiled, saving Fred the job. "Just don't, you know, _have each other _in public next time, yeah? I reckon some of these lot need obliviating."

Fred laughed, the boys joining in weakly as they realised they had to let it go.

"Will do." Scorpius smirked.

"Well, if we're all done with our early morning reunions I'm going to go to bed." Al mumbled, turning. The other boys followed, and James once again made to shut the door.  
"Fred?" Roxy was still stood in the doorway. "I know it's still early but can I just talk to you about something?"  
Fred nodded dumbly.

_She knew. She had to know. _

His mind whirred as he tried to think of excuses to throw at her. He tried to think of reasons and he couldn't think of one other than their father. Their sorry, protecting father.

"Yeah, sure." He mumbled, going to the stairs with her and closing the door to his room as James and Anna stared after them.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked quietly, pulling on the sleeves of her pyjamas. He didn't reply, so she continued to squirm. "You've just been different around me lately, and I would have asked you why before but it's like you're avoiding me and I-"  
Without knowing why, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to his chest. When they were little, they used to do this all the time, and right now Fred couldn't remember why they'd ever stopped. The twin thing really kicked in when they were close; their hearts seemed to beat in time and her head fit perfectly into the crook of his neck like a jigsaw.

"Of course I'm not mad at you, Rox. I'm so sorry."  
"Sorry for what?"  
"Just, for not being normal with you. I've been stressing about exams and I…" He sighed, "I love you Rox, you're my little sister-"  
"By seven minutes." She replied into his shirt, punching him lightly on the chest and laughing.

"Still."

If it were possible, he pulled her closer to him.

He wished twins really were telepathic and that she would be able to read his mind so he would never have to tell her.

As it was, though, she didn't know what he was thinking.

There was a fine line between protecting and harming, Fred realised, he just wasn't sure what side of that line he was on.

…

Lily's day hadn't started well, since she'd been woken up ridiculously early to the sound of her cousins running down the stairs, then had the boys squealing hysterically in her ears for a while before she returned to bed.

It hadn't improved from there.

She'd had to hand in two essays in defence, one of which she'd only written over breakfast, and she'd spent her entire Herbology lesson wrestling with a vine to get her pen back. In care of magical creatures, she'd found that her pixie had moved in with another one, so spent her listen trying to separate them, and she spilt her potion and burnt through her shoe in her last lesson. Then, after dinner (which had been Lily's least favourite meal she could remember Hogwarts ever having served), she'd had to go extra astronomy classes since some star was in an unusual place.

By the time she returned to the common room, all she wanted was a hug, and her bed.

What she got, however, was a wonderful view of her boyfriend laughing with Amy McCintosh in the corner.

As much as she didn't want to be jealous, she couldn't help but storm over to them and stand next to him, arms folded. "Hi." She tried to smile, but ended up as more of a grimace.

"One sec, Lils." Jake replied, before turning back to his ex-girlfriend. "Right, so that's where you've gone wrong, because that rune doesn't mean wand it means cloak."  
"If it means cloak then what does that mean?"  
"That means-"  
"Jake." Lily repeated, crossing her arms. "I really need to talk to you."

Jake looked up, questioningly. "One minute-"  
"No, it's fine." Amy smiled, "I can do the rest on my own, you go."

Jake stood and shrugged while Lily smiled back at Amy, before they both walked further away from her to the stairwell.

"Right, well what's so important?"  
"Nothing." Lily shrugged.  
"Then why were you so rude to Amy?" He asked, the way he was looking at her reminding Lily of when her Dad told her off.

"I just wanted to talk to you."  
"And you couldn't wait two minutes?"  
She sighed angrily. "Jake, I've had a really bad day and just walked into you and your ex-girlfriend cosying up in the corner."

"Oh, for god's sake Lily, you were jealous?" He asked loudly, his arms unfolding. "That's ridiculous, you have no reason to be-"  
"Oh, so it's okay for you to be jealous when I'm talking to Peter Lewis?" She reminded him sarcastically.  
"I wasn't jealous; he was looking down your shirt!" Jake replied, his voice getting louder to match hers. "Please forgive me for trying to protect you-" He mocked.  
"I don't need you to protect me."

"Besides," Jake continued, regardless. "You don't have any reason to be jealous about Amy-"  
"Of course I do when you slept with her."

Jake just shook his head, turning towards the stairs and beginning to walk up them.

She chased after him. "Er, where are you going?"  
"I'm not having this argument again." He replied, still racing up the stairs.

"I'm not arguing, I'm just trying to make you understand-"  
"Not you're not Lily, you're looking for a fight." He reached his room, opening the door and smacking it open angrily. "And I'm not giving you one."  
She walked in after him, shutting the door behind her and sighing. "Why would I look for a fight? You think I want to argue with you?"  
"Yeah, I think you do."  
"Why?"  
"Because I think you like the drama."

Lily stared at him and shook her head. "You're kidding."  
"No, I'm not. I think you like the drama to jazz up your perfect life."  
"Perfect life?" She echoed. "How is my life perfect?"  
Jake shook his head frustratedly. "How is it not, Lily? You have the perfect house and perfect family and you get anything you want. Your brothers would literally die to protect you and your cousins just want you to be happy more than anything in the world! All you need to do is say your name and you get anything you want-"  
"You think that makes my life perfect?" Lily screamed back, cutting off his rant. "What are you, jealous? Jake, you know how much I hate being famous and you know I hate how perfect my family is!"

"Yeah, you say that but-"  
"But what?"  
"But I think you like the attention you get from fighting with me. I mean, you hardly speak to me when you're happy, but when you've had a bad day you just take it out on me! If you'd stop wallowing in self-pity for a second you'd see that I love you, and that it doesn't matter what I did with other girls because I only care about you!"

Lily didn't have a reply to that, not immediately anyway.  
The two of them stared at each other, their breathing heavy and the air thick with the things they'd said.

"You love me?" She asked quietly, "you've never said that before."  
"Yeah, well I told your Dad and your brothers so I figured you should know too." He replied, smiling a little goofily, his anger seeming to evaporate.

"Oh," was all she could say. "Do you mean it?"  
"Yeah, of course I do." He walked towards her, taking her hands in his. "I really love you."

And all she could do was nod.

A few months ago, she would have loved to have heard him say that. A few months ago that would make her happy.

Now, though, it just made her heart ache almost guiltily.


	71. Trusting Yourself

Evenin' all. Sorry it's been so long since I updated; I've had the busiest month of my life. I had a week in Cambridge university, and before then I had exchange students from Boston, Massachusetts. It's been insane, so I'm so sorry it's taken me a while to update, but I'm in Boston for ten days then I'm home and you can expect more chapters!

So, yes, thanks very much for all the reviews, alerts, favourites etc! Anonymous reviewers; _MEE _(thanks for the review, I'm updating now. More Rox/Jamie very soon!), _HPlovvvvvver_ (Thanks so much for suggesting this story is even half as good as JK's world! Sorry about the time between updates! I will update more regularly from now on!), _ (Thanks for the review, you'll have to keep reading to see what happens to Jake/Lily!), _Iloveharrypotter _(Keep reading, thanks for the review! J), _Ash _(thanks so much for the review; it takes ages to read all of this story so I hope you're enjoying it! As for Lucy and Molly, yeah, they should maybe be in Hogwarts, but in my story Percy chose to home school them since he associated Hogwarts with the war too much.), _Lorrry _(Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the chapter.), _rednose _(Thanks for the review, I agree that Fred's not in the best situation at the moment. And I agree that Lily is completely clueless!), _aierji _(Thanks for reading and reviewing; but no one's ever said Louis' an ass before! Ahaha!) and _Amiee-x _(How do you set a computer on fire? :L But anyway, I'm glad you liked it. Hopefully this story will be finished by the summer, and then the second story will be finished by… Christmas? I'm not sure, my life's unpredictable at the moment! Thanks for the review!)._  
_To the other non-anonymous reviewers, I plan to reply to you next, but for once I wanted to post this chapter first and then reply; I promise I will get through you all eventually!

I would love it if this chapter got over 2000 reviews by the last chapter, and maybe 350 alerts. That would make me so unbelievably happy. But, I hit the 150,000 hit mark, and it made my day!

This chapter, on the other hand, is kind of a filler but not really… I don't know. I hope you like it either way!

**_Disclaimer: _**_The new HP7 trailer came out last week, and since I could never create anything as incredible as that I do not own the rights to Harry Potter and his world; that's all JKR! _

* * *

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventy One- Trusting Yourself)**

Louis Weasley today realised that he was too easily distracted.

He was meant to be writing his history essay, but his eyes scanned too far across the library and he saw a group of girls giggling in the corner.

They were only the year below, and he'd kissed at least two of the six of them. But, for a change, they hadn't caught his eye because they'd been hot. They'd caught his eye because they said his name.

"I vote Louis for that one!"

"Really? I'd vote Al."  
"No way is Al the hottest!"

"Why are we completely forgetting James?" One of them demanded.

Louis just raised his eyebrows, walking towards them.

They were crowded round the table, one of them with their wand in their hand. A magazine lay on the table in front of them, and they continuously said one of his cousins' names.

"Ahem." He said loudly, laughing when they turned and jumped, then looked unsure whether to smile or scream. "What are you reading?"  
"Er, Teen Witch Weekly." One of them replied. "There's, um, an article on you."

"Oh yeah?" He asked, before reaching over and taking the magazine from in front of them.

"_Witches across the world vote on their favourite Potters and Weasleys!" _screamed at him across the top of the page. Below it were pictures of all five of the boys (Louis quite liked the black-and-white picture of him from memorial day), and the words "_Who's the hottest?"_

"I don't get it." He told the girls.

"Well, you vote on who you think wins, and then get the world-wide results, including your vote. It's really clever."

"And you can only vote once per wand so-"

"How do you get the results?" Louis asked.

"You vote."  
Louis pulled his wand out, laughing to himself as he touched his own face with his wand.

"_You voted Louis Weasley" _appeared on the paper, before it was replaced with "_He came… 3__rd__! 1__st__ James Potter, 2__nd__ Al Weasley, 3__rd__ Louis Weasley, 4__th__ Fred Weasley, 5__th__ Hugo Weasley."_

"Third?" Louis demanded, no longer caring about his History of Magic essay.

"I would have voted for you." One of the girls smiled.

Louis nodded appreciatively, before rolling the magazine up. "Can I keep this?"

"Yeah, sure." One of them replied.

Louis left then, grabbing his bag from his own table and racing up to the common room.

"Have you seen this?" He asked, half jokingly and half seriously storming towards his family. They weren't all there; Lily, Al and Scorpius were nowhere to be seen. Dom turned though, and raised her eyebrows.

"Seen what?"  
"They're voting on us."  
"Eh?" Fred asked, as Louis placed the magazine on the table in the centre and they crowded around.

"_Who's got the best fashion sense?" _Roxy read, craning her head over James' shoulder as Rose crinkled her nose at the sight of her picture.

Louis touched Dom's photo with his wand, and the page changed.  
"Aha, Molly's last!" Hugo teased.

"That's probably because people have no idea who she is!" Anna replied easily. "I mean, everyone knows who Dom is-"  
"And that's why I won." Dom joked in reply, as the next question appeared on the page.

"_Which of the boys are most dateable?_" Rose read, laughing. "Can I vote for none of them?"  
"Oi!"

Louis laughed, watching as his family laughed at the quiz in front of them, teasing each other about who was the least fun, or giggling when Rose and Scorpius won _Most adorable couple. _Fred had joked "Well what you did last night wasn't exactly adorable!" and they'd all laughed.

A little while later Louis, for all his jokes, stopped finding it funny, and started to find it really, really creepy.

It wasn't so much that he didn't like the idea of people gossiping about him as if he was some sort of character; he was used to that. And he didn't mind that people had all sorts of pre-conceived ideas about them (Dom was voted _most high maintenance_, for example), he was used to that too. And it wasn't that people that didn't know them yet seemed to have favourites out of their family, he was even used to that…

That was the problem. He didn't like just how _used to it _he was.

He hated how unnatural it was; while every other kid in the room did their homework, the eight of them could read an article about themselves that was probably being read by every teenage witch in the country.

He wished that wasn't something he was used to.

He stood up and walked away, leaving Roxy to tease James that George's children had beaten the Potters on _best parents_, and headed up to his room so he could have a few minutes to remind himself of all the positive things about being famous.

Far from the peace and quiet he craved, though, Louis was greeted by the familiar sound of his best friend and cousin screaming at each other.

"What do you mean, you'don't know what love is'? Come on, Lily, you either feel it or you don't-"  
"Maybe it's not that simple!"

"Or maybe it is and you just don't want to admit it!"

Groaning to himself, Louis opened the door slowly. The two of them turned to look at him, falling silent.  
"What's going on?" He dared to ask.

"Ask him." Lily replied, storming towards the door and slamming it shut, almost hitting Louis on the way.

Once she left, Jake just sighed, throwing himself down his bed.

"What happened?"  
"We had a fight."  
"You always have a fight."  
"Yeah, well this time it wasn't just a I-can't-believe-you're-not-a-virgin fight. It was a I-love-you-and-you-don't-love-me-back fight."

Louis nodded, sitting on his bed.

He couldn't help but blame himself for the whole thing, since apparently he'd been the one who told Lily about Jake's previous girlfriends, not that he could remember it.

If he thought he hadn't liked it when Lily and Jake were together all the time, he hated it even more when they were fighting every moment of the day.

"What happened this time?" he asked, because he knew Jake wanted to rant again.  
"She was being pathetic and jealous," He began, sitting up, "and then we had this argument and I told her I loved her, and then she didn't say it back. So then we argued again. And then you came in-"

"You told her you loved her? In an argument?"  
"Yeah."

Louis shook his head. "And you're mad because she didn't say it back?"

Jake sighed. "When you say it like that, it sounds pathetic, but it's just… We're not going anywhere. It's not getting any better, we just keep fighting and I-"

"Then why don't you break up with her?"

It kind of fell out of his mouth; he didn't really think about the fact it was his cousin he was talking about, he was just trying to help his best friend. He was fed up of seeing him suffer; from a best friend point of view, Jake just had a really irritating girlfriend that he needed to get rid of.

But it was Lily. If Jake broke up with Lily, the entire family would have to be angry at him. Louis would have to be angry with him.

He wished he could take his suggestion back, and let them work it through on their own, but it was out there now and realisation had already crossed Jake's face.

"I love her." He said quietly. "I really do, I just- It's like I'm with her because we have to be together; I can't break up with her because of her family, and she won't break up with me because, well, she's never been any good at change, has she? It's like she's pushing me away, and all I'd be doing is actually-"  
"Saying the words."

Louis looked down, twisting his thumbs to distract himself. He didn't want to be involved in any of it.

"Would I lose you?" Jake asked quietly. "I know how your family'll react and I just want to be prepared."

Louis sighed. "No mate. You're my best friend. You were my best friend before you went out with her, and you'll be my best friend afterwards. You're not getting rid of me."  
He meant it, but once it had been said he realised how difficult it sounded. Jake didn't seem to believe him, nodding and turning away. Louis wanted to repeat himself, but somehow he couldn't. He'd never been the type to make promises he couldn't keep.

…

Scorpius wasn't overly perceptive about other people's feelings, unless the person in question was Rose. He could tell by the way Rose bit her lip, or twisted her fingers, or closed her eyes… He just had to glance at her and he knew how she was feeling.

He couldn't do this with other people though; he hadn't studied anyone else for six years, so they weren't as easy to read.

But even Scorpius would have to be stupid not to know that something was wrong with Al. His best friend didn't smile anymore, and he stared blankly ahead more than he even blinked. He was so distracted that by breakfast he'd even forgotten to join in teasing Scorpius and Rose over the whole common room drama. Scorpius knew he was failing at school; he hadn't been revising like the rest of them had and exams just didn't seem to have motivated him like they normally did every year. It was like he was a different person, and Scorpius wasn't the only one to have noticed.

_Breakfast was usually a rather easy time of the day. People didn't really have important conversations and drama usually took place before dinner, not early in the morning. _

_This morning though, everyone had something to talk about. Or, at least, the Potters and Weasleys did. And Scorpius wanted to crawl under the table or stupefy himself for the entire twenty minutes. _

"_Maybe I should write to Mum and Dad and catch them up on the events of last night-"  
"Shut up Hugo." Rose replied quickly, clearly hating that this subject didn't seem to be going away. _

"_Forget your parents, I reckon we should write to the prophet! I can see the headlines now; 'Weasley-Malfoy Common Room Romp'-"  
"Shut up, Fred!" Rose demanded, as the other kids laughed again. Scorpius glanced down, where under the table he was holding her hand tightly. She was just embarrassed, he knew that. She hated being the subject of all the teasing; she'd rather be the teaser. _

_He knew she didn't regret it, at least. He'd already pulled her into the corner of the common room (to many wolf whistles from her cousins), and told her that they knew. She'd laughed, told him they were just jealous of how adventurous they had been, and kissed him good morning. So Scorpius didn't mind the teasing, as long as Rose was okay. _

"_Guys, let's just drop it now." James suggested._

"_Thank you!" Rose smiled. _

"… _Because it's first lesson. This will continue at lunch." James laughed, standing up and heading out of the hall. Fred laughed, following with Anna and the girls, and Hugo and Louis made yet another stupid joke before walking away. Al seemed to just leave, without saying a word, as Jake and Lily said goodbye. _

"_Wow, they're really not going to let this go, are they?" Maddie asked, picking up the last piece of toast as Rose sighed. _

"_It'll get old soon." Scorpius replied, and Rose nodded, looking in the direction of the door but still sitting down. "Are you alright?" He checked. _

"_Do you think there's something wrong with Al? Like, that he's mad at us or-"  
"He's not mad at you, I asked." Maddie replied easily. _

"_Well then what is it? He's been really different lately, hasn't he?"  
Scorpius nodded in agreement, while Maddie just blinked back. "I haven't noticed anything." She replied, looking bewildered before biting into her toast. _

"_Oh, well then I'm sure it's nothing." Rose replied hurriedly, standing and pulling Scorpius towards the door. "We have Herbology now so we should probably rush." She explained, leaving Maddie looking even more confused. _

"_She really has no idea, does she?" Scorpius asked as they walked, Rose looking guilty. _

"_No, I guess not. I'm not wrong though, am I? There is something different, right?"  
"Yeah."  
She bit her lip, stopping walking and pulling him backwards. "Find out for me?"  
"What?"  
"You're his best friend. He'll tell you."  
"He'd tell both of us."  
She shook her head. "Not any more, you know that. We used to all be close but now me and Al… we're just cousins. We don't really feel like friends anymore."_

_She began to walk again, and Scorpius nodded, assuming she didn't want to talk about it anymore. _

And now he was in the library, staring at his best friend, waiting for a good time to ask him what was going on.

Al was flicking through his potions book, clearly not reading a word of it.

"Do you think you're ready for exams then?" Scorpius asked, his voice sounding stupidly fake-casual.

Al just looked up, blinking a little. "What? Oh, yeah… No, I'm not ready. I'll fail them all, I always do-"  
"That's not true, you usually do pretty well and you know it."  
He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Just, maybe not this year." The last sentence was mumbled in the direction of the table, as if it was just a thought running through his head, not intended to be heard.  
"Why not?" Scorpius asked.

"What?" Al's head snapped up again.

"Why not this year? What's going on with you?"  
"Nothing." Al repeated adamantly, picking up the book in front of him properly and placing it in front of his face, as if to end all conversations.

Scorpius decided not to give up, channelling his girlfriend's persistent nosiness.

He pulled the book away, giving his best friend nowhere else to look.

"No, really, what's going on? I'm worried about you. We all are."  
"Really?" Al's green eyes seemed to open a little, "Even… Even Maddie?"

Scorpius shook his head honestly. "She says she hasn't noticed. But Rose and I have, and we want to help."  
"It's good that Maddie hasn't noticed." Al replied, looking straight back at Scorpius but seemingly talking to himself.

Scorpius honestly wondered if his friend was going insane. He was acting so irrationally and unnaturally that Scorpius actually wondered if he'd been confounded or worse.

"Have you ever had a secret, Scorpius? One that you couldn't tell anyone?"  
Scorpius blinked, surprised that his presence was now being acknowledged. "Yeah, mate, I have. I tried to stop you and Rose finding out about all the things that happened in my house for years, didn't I?"

He didn't really like remembering it, or talking about it. He'd hated himself back then, for not just telling them everything he knew. They rarely talked about it now, but back then they had asked him questions and wanted to understand his side, and he'd always had to lie.  
"Yeah, that's not the same thing I guess." Al sighed. "I mean, yours was important. Mine's just a mistake."  
"Al what are you-?"  
"Besides, we forgave you for that, didn't we? Rose and I?"  
"Yeah, you did, but-"  
"I'm not a very good liar, Scorpius." Al sighed. "I wish I was, and I'm trying, but it just seems to be easier to stay quiet in case I give myself away."  
"Al, what did you do?" Scorpius asked simply.

"I slept with Laura Spinnet."

Scorpius didn't feel the surprise he should have. "When?"

"Memorial day."  
Somehow, that made it worse. As if it could even get worse.

He knew Al had a lot of flaws; he had a bad concept of reality and used his surname to get away with things all the time. He was lazy, had a short temper, and the whole family was spoilt beyond belief. Al wasn't the most sensitive of people, and regularly annoyed Scorpius in his untidy and unorganised behaviour… But Scorpius never saw him as untrustworthy. Out of everyone in the world, Scorpius would trust Al first. He had always been honest and open as a boy… Maybe now he was trying to be a man, he'd forgotten how to do that.

Scorpius couldn't help but wonder if he knew the black haired, green eyed boy sat in front of him at all.

"I can't believe you would-"  
"I was drunk. You know what I'm like when I'm drunk!"

"That doesn't make it okay!" It was as if he'd been cheated on. He was angry, because he'd just lost all faith in his best friend. He was angry because Maddie had no idea, and because Rose was so worried about her cousin when all he'd done was sleep with some girl…  
"I know it's not okay; I'm not stupid! But I just… I made a mistake, alright?"  
"Yeah, you're not kidding." Scorpius replied bitterly.

"What am I meant to do? What would you do-?"  
"I wouldn't cheat."

Scorpius knew how harsh his sentence was, and it seemed to echo around the almost-empty library, as Al sunk into his seat.

"I feel really bad." He shook his head. "You have no idea, I… I just don't want anyone to get hurt. Especially not Maddie."  
Scorpius sighed, feeling himself calm down as his fists unclenched. "She's going to get hurt either way."  
"Not really." Al shook his head. "If we stay together until Summer, and then just 'drift apart'… then it's over, isn't it? And she never has to know about Laura and-"  
"You've really thought about this."  
"I really don't want to hurt her."  
Unsure of what to reply, Scorpius just nodded.

"You're not going to tell her, are you?"  
"Who Maddie?"  
"Yeah, and Rose. You can't tell her either-"

"Are you seriously asking me to lie to my girlfriend for you?"  
Al nodded.

"You want me to lie to your cousin?"  
"I wouldn't ask if… You weren't even meant to know, I don't know why I told you."

The two boys didn't look at each other, both just leant backwards on their chairs.

"I'm sorry." Al mumbled, not meeting Scorpius' eyes. "I really am, I wish I hadn't done it, and now I can't make things right or-"

"I won't tell her." Scorpius agreed, unsure why he said it the second it was out of his mouth.

"Thanks." Al replied. "You're a really good mate."

Scorpius smiled weakly, collecting his things and walking away, mumbling about it being late.

He hated that being a good mate meant agreeing to lie. He hated that he'd had to choose between his best friend and girlfriend, and had chosen Al.

He hated it even more when he got into the common room, and Rose ran towards him and smiled. "So, did you find out what was wrong?"  
Scorpius shook his head all too easily. "No, he seemed alright really; I think we were wrong earlier."

She shrugged, reaching out and holding his hand. "I'll trust you; you know him better."  
He didn't reply, instead he just smiled weakly and allowed himself to be distracted by the conversations of her cousins. Al walked in a few minutes later, sitting down and acting similarly unnaturally.

Scorpius couldn't help but glare at him, but then his eyes caught on Rose and he returned to smiling fakely.

He wondered if he was really any better than Al; after all, he'd now been caught up in the lies too.


	72. Letting It Go

Good evening everyone! I apologise for it taking so long for me to update, but I was slightly quicker than I have been recently! I've been busy in Boston and I have my exams in a couple of weeks and it's all very stressful.

I want to say I big thankyou to all of you for sticking with me, even though I know I'm not quite as loyal to this story as I used to be. It's not a matter of me not loving it anymore, it's just that I physically don't have the time, and when I do I'm always sure it's not quite good enough for you guys to read it and then it's a matter of editing or scrapping the whole chapter and starting again.  
So, yes, as always thank to all you reviewers! My goal is to get over 2000 reviews by the end of this story; that's about 8 chapters away. :( But then I get to write the sequel and I can't even put into words how excited I am about that…  
Anonymous reviewers: _mrsscorpiusmalfoy _(first, awesome name, and secondly thanks for reading and reviewing!), _clashercutie101 _(I'm so glad you like the story I promise I'll always keep writing especially for you and your friends! Thanks for reviewing!), _Lorrry _(I'm so glad you liked the chapter and that you think Scorpius is a better person than Al! Thanks for reviewing!), _Squid7000 _(Aha, I get distracted by Klaine too! Have you read Perfect? I love that fic! I'm glad you liked the chapters, and thanks so much for reviewing!), _HP Fan _(I'm glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for reviewing!) and _rednose _(Thanks for the review, I know what you mean about Al! :D). As always, I hope I replied to all of the rest of you!

Additional extra special thanks to _cscorpia_who put this story on her C2 list of The Classics of Harry Potter! Thanks so much!

Anyway, the first half of this chapter was really a pain to write, but the second half was much easier. Hope you all enjoy it, please review! Sorry about the long AN.

**_Disclaimer: _**_My tune's returning: Harry Potter isn't mine doo-dah doo-dah…_

* * *

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventy Two- Letting It Go)**

Lily remembered when she was five, and she used to wish she could go to school with all the other, more normal, children. Her bedroom used to have a view of their playground, and she would watch them pretend to be part of worlds they didn't understand. They pretended to ride unicorns, when Lily had known from birth how rare unicorns were. She watched as they pretended to fly, when the only person Lily knew who could fly without a broom was the most evil man on the planet.

When Lily was young, she used to wonder which world was real. Whether, because there were more of them, and they thought the magical world was just a story, she was in fact living a lie. She hated that her life was a secret. She hated that she couldn't go out and play with the other kids, for fear of levitating or accidentally saying something she'd get in trouble for. Sometimes she just wished she was normal.

She still did now. She still had days where she wished she wasn't magical at all, and she wished her parents weren't famous. She wished she was like her neighbours, who lived lives of science and books, and flashing little plastic boxes and loud blaring music. She wanted to be normal, just for a day, just to know what it would feel like.

In this case, though, she knew being normal wouldn't help her. Even normal girls messed things up with their boyfriends. Even normal girls said, or didn't say, things they regretted. Even normal girls sometimes didn't understand how they felt.

She hadn't spoken to Jake since yesterday. She knew she should have gone to try and find him by now, to try and fix things, but she couldn't be bothered. She wasn't sure if she wanted things fixed anymore.

She spent her day as if everything was normal; she had moments where she even forgot that she and Jake weren't talking. When those moments happened, she couldn't help but wonder if they were a sign.

She knew what was coming; she hated the inevitability of it all. It worried her; she didn't want things to change, but she wondered if she was genuinely worried about losing him or worried about losing the way he made her feel. When Jake was around, she felt protected and safe and wanted… She was beginning to realise that she didn't love Jake for making her feel that way; she just loved feeling it.

By the evening, part of her just wanted it all over. She hated herself for feeling almost relieved when he walked towards her in the common room, and mumbled that they needed to talk. She followed him out of the common room, and down the corridors.

They didn't hold hands like they normally did.

They walked outside, where it was still light outside and still warm. They didn't sit down, Jake just sighed and turned to face her.

"You know what I'm going to say, don't you?"  
She nodded.

"I don't want to." He said quietly. "I'm only doing it because you wouldn't do it yourself. Even though you're the one who wants this."

Lily wasn't sure what she was meant to reply. She shook her head, planning on denying that she ever wanted to lose him, but she couldn't. Instead she bit her lip, and mumbled "For a while you were the best first boyfriend I could've dreamt of."

He smiled. "I tried. You only deserve the best."  
"But then-"  
"But then you found out I'm not perfect. And it scared you, because you realised everyone's flawed. And you've wanted this to end ever since, because all you've seen are my flaws."  
She hated how well he knew her. How he'd worked out exactly was wrong with her, when she'd been trying to work it out for months now.

She was naïve; she still wished the world of perfect Prince-Charming boys existed. She still thought she was living a fairy tale, and forgot that she was in fact surrounded by reality.

"We're going to be friends, right?" He asked quietly.

"Of course." She replied easily. "I can't- I can't lose you completely."

He wrapped his arms around her, and sighed into her hair. She hadn't realised she even needed a hug until she was breathing into his chest.

"You could never lose me." He replied. "Not completely."  
"But we're breaking up-"  
"We were practically broken up before. Nothing'll change, we'll just argue less."

Lily stared at the floor, unsure what she was expected to reply. She couldn't put into words the way she felt, not in a way that would make him feel any better.

She didn't want to go back to that girl who had no one to make her feel okay; she didn't want to go back to hiding in the shadows while the rest of her family got on with their lives. She wished she could just hold onto him, even if she didn't love him.

She wanted to be selfish, and make him stay. The worst bit was that she knew if she asked, he wouldn't leave.

"So now what, we just walk back?"  
"Yeah. I guess we'll tell everyone."

She really was selfish, because Lily only realised exactly what Jake was giving up in that moment. He could lose Louis and his friends over this break up.

"I'll tell my family." It was the least she owed him. "I'll make them understand; you'll be okay."

"Thanks, Lils."

She sighed; he looked down at her for a few seconds too long and Lily wondered if he really wanted to do this. She didn't think he did.

They both began to walk; neither of them spoke for the entire time, and when they arrived in the common room Jake turned to her and smiled.

"I'll do it." She told him, turning to where her family were sat laughing in the corner.

"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah." She nodded. "I'll miss you." she repeated, before turning and walking towards the corner.

"Hey Lils." James smiled, "You aright?"  
"Actually, I need to tell you guys something."

Hugo stopped laughing, his eyes darting up. Fred and Anna tore their eyes from each other, while Louis leant back tiredly.

"Lily, what's happened?" Dom asked panickedly.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong I just- Jake and I broke up."

"Did he dump you?" James asked, no surprise in his voice. "I'll kill him-"  
"No. It wasn't like that. I'm okay with it. I think I wanted it."  
"Oh, then that's okay then." Fred replied relaxedly, before leaning back and continuing his conversations.

No one else asked any question. Dom looked at her supportively, but everyone else just continued.

Lily wondered if they expected it too. She thought they probably did.

She hated that she'd become so predictable, and so reliant on people.

She thought maybe she could try and change that, now she was single again.

…

Roxy hated not understanding things.

Out of everything in the world, not understanding something was the most frustrating thing to her.

That was why she worked so hard at school, because if she didn't understand she would keep learning until she did.

Roxy didn't understand the dream she'd had last night.

She was a practical person. She knew, for the most part, dreams didn't actually mean anything. But her dream last night had been so weird, and so unexplainable… and for some reason she didn't understand, it really scared her.

Since waking up too early this morning, Roxy had spent hours in the library, with books on dreams open in front of her, trying to understand what it meant.

_**Family**__- To see your own family in your dream, represents security, warmth and love. It could also symbolize bitterness, jealousy, or rivalry, depending on your relationship with your family. Alternatively, it could mean that you are overly dependent on your family, especially if the family members are in your recurring dreams_

_**Murder**__- __To dream that you witness a murder, indicates deep-seated anger towards somebody. Consider how the victim represents aspects of yourself that you want to destroy or eliminate. _

_**Death**__- __To dream of your own death, indicates a transitional phase in your life. Alternatively, you are trying desperately to escape the demands of your daily life._

None of it made any sense. She wasn't bitter or jealous of her family, and she was sure she wasn't overly dependent on them. She had no deep-seated anger towards anyone, and she wasn't going through a transitional period in her life.

So what did it mean?

She sighed, closing the book in front of her and leaning back in the chair.

"Working already? At this time?" She heard a voice from behind her, and turned to see Craig smiling at her. Her heart sank a little; she'd wanted Jamie to come and help her out. "Panicking about exams?"  
She opened her mouth to tell him otherwise, but changed her mind and nodded.

He sat down next to her. "It's scary isn't it? These exams affect the rest of our lives."

She nodded. "I guess…"  
"Not that you'll really have a problem with it, eh? You've never failed an exam."  
"Neither have you."  
"Not yet." He shrugged. "I'm not as good at revising without you."

Roxy couldn't help but frown a little, wondering why he would say that. "How's Laura?" she deliberately changed the subject.  
"Fine. How's Jamie?"  
"Good."

Craig leant back on his chair again. "You know, I'm glad you found him. Or, more importantly, I'm glad he finally got the balls to ask you out."  
She turned. "Wait, you always knew that-?"  
"It was obvious."  
"Then why would you ask me out?"  
"Because I wanted you too. I heard he was going to do it on your birthday so I had to beat him to it."  
She hated that she was somewhat of a competition.

"Part of me wishes I hadn't."  
"What?"  
"Not that I regret you, Roxy. I just regret hurting you. I wasn't the right guy for you, Rox, not really, and I hurt you in the end just like everyone always said I would."  
"Yeah. You did." She replied, fairly harshly.

Her words lingered in the silence, and he just blinked back at her, as if surprised by what she'd said.

She didn't register footsteps from behind her, but heard Jamie's voice. "Everything okay?" He asked, looking between Roxy and Craig. She couldn't help but notice that one of his hands had wrapped around his wand in his back pocket.

"Everything's fine." Craig replied, standing up. "I'll see you round, Rox."

When Craig shut the door behind himself, Jamie seemed to relax and sat in the seat opposite her. His hands reached out and wrapped around hers, and he studied her carefully.

"What did he say?"  
"I'm fine, really." She assured him. "He just… He said that he always knew you liked me. He said he deliberately beat you to it. He said he always knew he'd hurt me."

Jamie shook his head, twisting his fingers between hers. "What's he playing at?"  
"I don't know. But he wishes you'd gotten there first too, just like I do. I wish I'd been with you back then, I wish it had always been you."  
"I know-"  
"I wish you were my first, you know? If I hadn't been going out with Craig you'd probably have got head boy and everything would be better-"

He silenced her by reaching out and brushing her hair from her face.  
"You can wish forever, Roxy. It won't change the past."

"I know."  
"We're together now. You have me now."

"You have me forever."

"I know." He smiled, "I can't believe I'm so lucky."  
She was about to protest that she was, in fact, the lucky one, but he'd already looked down at the table and seen the books in front of her.

"Bad dream?" he asked as his hands slipped back around hers.  
She nodded. "Yeah. I couldn't really sleep because of it."  
"Why? What happened?"  
She sighed. "I-er…" It sounded bizarre to say out loud. "I dreamt of Fred. As in, my Dad's brother. He- he killed my Dad and I started fading, and then my brother called Fred "Dad" and I kind of reappeared. And then Mum arrived and she and Fred were married and happy and they were my family, not my Dad, and my brother seemed to know exactly what was happening and I had no idea…" Just remembering it panicked her. She remembered waking with the covers on the floor, she had slept so restlessly. "I know it's stupid, it just-"  
"It's weird."  
"Exactly! I was trying to find out what it means, but none of this makes any sense." She gestured to the books. "Maybe it's just a sign? Maybe somewhere deep down I feel guilty that I hardly know anything about Dad's twin. Maybe I should ask Mum and Dad about him or-"  
"Rox, calm down." He squeezed her hand supportively. "You don't need to know all that, you know that."  
"I know." She sighed, her eyes locking on his. "I know, I just-"  
"Rox, you can't let yourself get distracted like this. I know you're scared about exams, but you can't let yourself get stressed about anything else."  
"You really think that's all it is?" She asked, still wondering whether there was still a box marked _Fred _in the attic.

"Yeah. Rox, you know everything there is to know about your family. Don't search for something else to worry about."

She nodded, still knowing she looked sceptical.

"I tell you what, after exams, I'll help you."  
"Yeah?"  
"Yeah. We'll even ask McGonagall about him and try and find his school records."  
"Really?" She smiled.

"Really. In two weeks exams are all over, then you can find out all you like. We'll find out his exam results, his girlfriends, his best pranks… Anything you want."  
Rox smiled, taking her hands away from his and pushing the books in front of her to the side of the table. The she reached to her bag on the floor and pulled out her History of Magic books.

Jamie did the same, pulling his Herbology books out and settling back on the seat to read them.

She couldn't really concentrate. She peeked over the top of her books and looked at him, as he did the same back. She twisted her feet with his under the table, playfully smiling at him as they carried on pretending to read.

He leant forward, scribbling on the notebook in front of him, and Roxy studied the way his eyes flicked.

He turned the book around so she could see what he'd written.

_Stop distracting me._

She smirked, before scribbling back.

_Distracting you? How? What am I doing?_

He shook his head at her across the table as he read.

_Just being you. _He replied.

She smiled up at him, placing her book down at the table in front of her as he did the same. "I really love you, you know that?"  
"I love you more."

Maybe she was just stressing out for the sake of having something to stress about; maybe she was just distracting herself from the exams. One thing she was certain of, though, was that she would never have to worry where Jamie was concerned.

She knew she could trust him to look after her forever.


	73. Revealing

Hi, everyone! Okay, so, I'm literally drowning in a world of revision… Which doesn't come up in this chapter at all….  
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to all of you for the alerts and favourites, and even to those of you who just read! As for you reviewers, you are amazing as always! Anonymous reviewers: _Lorrry _(Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I'm glad you don't like Craig as well! :) Which is probably bad as I'm meant to love all my characters... Ahah, Joxy; I love it!), _No name _(I'm updating! :) And thanks for reviewing!), _Purpleflower23 _(I'm glad you liked the chapter! And I'm glad my story is a "very very very" good kind of unpredictable! :P Thanks for reviewing!), _rednose _(I know what you mean about Lily and Jake! And I'm glad you're happy for Roxy. Don't thank me for writing this story; thank you for reading it!), _HP Fan _(You're welcome for the Lily and Jake breakup. And thanks for the review!), _ (I'm glad the chapter was alright for you, and James got back together with Louisa because he loved her, and it's not like he's completely innocent in all of the story. Thanks for the review.), _MEEE _(Oh no! I hope it wasn't dull, and I'm glad you liked the twin-telepathy! Thanks for the review!), _clashercutie101 _(I'm glad you liked the chapter, and thanks for reviewing! I don't know why you think I'm awesome, but I appreciate it anyway! :)), _Squid7000 _(Ah, Perfect is incredible! And well, there's the sequel too… Aha, I love that you called Craig the dark side- that's hilarious! Thanks for the review!), _Vanillaberries _(Sorry, I can't PM you in reply but I'm glad you liked the chapter and that you like Roxy and Craig! :D), _mrsscorpiusmalfoy _(The name is so great! You should make an account; you'd get even better replies to your reviews! :) I'm so glad you love the story, it really means a lot.). Hopefully I've replied to all of the rest of you!  
Your reviews really mean so much to me; you have no idea how much I smile when I get an email, especially when it's a really long review and I can just sit on the train and giggle to myself… Please keep reviewing, especially while I'm all stressed out.

So, yeah, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'm not too sure if it's any good, but I felt bad about making you all wait for so long! Hopefully (hopefully) I'll be able to bring you a new chapter soon since I'll finally know what freedom feels like again in a few weeks! Next chapter's Al and Dom; anyone want to guess what'll happen?

**_Disclaimer: _**_I think I've completely run out of ways to explain that I don't own Harry Potter! _

* * *

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please**_  
**(Chapter Seventy Three- ****Revealing)**

James thought exam week had appeared out of nowhere.

He didn't think he could physically be less prepared for anything.

Sure, he'd been revising. Or he'd been claiming he was revising and secretly racing off with Louisa. And if he wasn't with Louisa he was daydreaming about her… Yeah, he planned on blaming her if he failed every exam he took.

The day before exams began was always horrible; everyone would get up early and take up every available space with their books or their quills or themselves. There was no room in the library, the common room, the great hall, or even the benches in the corridor. Everyone tried desperately to cram a last few pages of notes into their brains, and those who didn't tried to research into illnesses that could get them out of the examinations.

James, Fred, Anna, Dom, Roxy and Jamie had chosen to avoid the madness of the school, and sit in James' dorm together. There was only one lesson that all six of them had in common, and that was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Annoyingly, that was the only exam none of them felt the need to really revise for.

So James was trying to teach himself how to make an anecdote to the draught of living death, while Fred chanted the twelve uses of dragon's blood just a metre away. In the corner, Jamie and Roxy loudly debated the meaning of a rune, and Dom and Anna were sat on Fred's bed trying to read each other's tea leaves.

James squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to read the words in front of him to make them make sense.

His mind kept wandering, though, the second he got distracted by what someone else did; Roxy playfully hit Jamie over the head, and James thought of yesterday, when Louisa had hit James for joking she was a rubbish prefect. Or Dom laughed at something Anna said, and James thought of Louisa laughing at his jokes…

Okay, so his mind tended to wander back to exactly the same thing.

He glanced at the clock by his bed and sighed; it was eleven o'clock, and he wasn't meeting Louisa for another hour…

"I can't do this." He groaned, slamming his book down on his knee. "I may as well give up and accept that I'm going to fail."

"Well, that's motivating." Fred said sarcastically.

"No, seriously, if we don't know it by now then we never will." James complained.  
"Again, motivating."

James turned and glared at Roxy a little, who sighed. "I guess you're right, though. Professor Vector did say there's no point panic-revising."  
"Exactly!" James agreed, even though he'd previously just been making things up. Fred sighed, closing his book and bounding onto his bed. Dom and Anna placed their tea cups on the bedside table, and Roxy and Jamie packed away their quills. It seemed like everyone had just been waiting for an excuse to stop revising.

"So, what shall we do?" Fred asked, childishly sitting on his knees on his bed and pulling Anna's hair.

Dom turned and grinned at Fred. "Tell us a secret."  
"Wh-what?" Fred asked, his face paling more than James expected it would. He regained his composure quickly though; it was as if James had imagined it.

"Aha, your face!" Dom laughed. "Got something to hide, have you?"  
"No." Fred replied, easily. "Not all of us keep secrets like you do."  
"I don't keep secrets!" Dom protested.

"Yeah, you do. You're the most secretive of all of us."  
"Well, I don't mean to be, you guys just don't ask."  
"Fair." James judged, feeling a little like a referee.

Dom and Fred, however, weren't prepared to stop bickering.

Everyone got like this around exams. Stupid things annoyed them, to distract them from the stress. Roxy had yelled at Anna for stealing her hair brush this morning, and Fred and James had argued about who got the last piece of toast over breakfast. The younger years weren't as bad, but their exams didn't mean even nearly as much.

"Yeah, if we do ask, you don't answer."  
"I do. I always answer-"  
"Not true; we used to ask what was wrong and you'd just go all quiet. How are we meant to reply to that?"  
"Guys, come on. Play nice." Roxy reasoned, and Dom and Fred fell silent.

In fact, the whole room fell silent.

Anna pulled her legs towards her chest, while Roxy leant her head on Jamie's shoulder. They could practically hear the pens scraping, pages turning, and minds whirring downstairs.

"Is anyone else absolutely terrified about these exams?" James finally murmered quietly.

"Yes."

"God, yes."  
"I thought I was the only one."  
"Of course I am!"

"It's like…"Roxy bit her nail. "It's like they mean too much. Everything we've done up to now means nothing; it's all about these few hours sat in the hall with paper in front of us."  
"Yeah, but you'll be fine-"  
"You don't know that."  
"Well if you fail we have no hope!" Fred joked, before pulling a face. "Oh god, what if we fail?"

They laughed at the panic on his face. "That's easy." James replied. "We just live off being famous. Maybe write a book or two, do a few interviews, and just live our life and tell people about it."  
"Wait, that sounds more fun than three years at the Ministry of Magic!" Dom smiled. "Let's just quit our exams now!"

"Yes! And go on holiday!"  
"To Australia!" Anna added.

"And then travel the world-"  
For years-!"

"And just live the rest of our lives with the memories!"  
"Yes. Just screw the world, and live the way we want to." Fred smiled, leaning over and kissing Anna on the forehead.  
"That would be amazing."  
They couldn't do it of course; they all knew they were just dreaming out loud. James wasn't even sure he'd really want to give up that much; he had too much to stay for and too much he wanted to achieve, even if he wasn't sure of his exact goals. He just knew he wanted to be known for something other than his surname.

"If you could do anything, go anywhere, right now; where would you go?" Dom asked, her voice quiet again, as they all calmed down and returned to their former sombre moods.  
Fred shrugged. "I wouldn't go anywhere. I think I'd stay right here."  
"Really? I'd get out on my broom." Anna replied.

"I'd go home." Jamie replied. "Take Roxy with me, of course."  
"Oh, so I guess I'd go to your house."  
"Perfect!" Jamie joked. "What about you, James?"  
_"I'd be as close as I could to Louisa." _Was the answer in his head. "I'd probably join Anna in the sky." He shrugged, not entirely lying. That was probably his second choice. "What time is it?"  
"Like, half eleven?"  
"I have a meeting with a teacher, so I should go." James announced standing a little suddenly. He'd thought of her, and now he just wanted to get to her. He headed for the door.

"James, are you okay?" Fred asked, his eyebrows raising.

"Yeah. Yeah, just fine." He lied, before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

He didn't like lying to his friends. He was beginning to run out of excuses as to where he could be going all the time, or why he would be out all night.

Although, he forgot all that when he was with her. Part of him liked that reality and his world with Louisa were kind of detached.

The Room of Requirement had kind of become their hide away, especially designed for whatever they wanted to do. When he went inside today, Louisa was curled up in a living room, her books in neat piles in front of her.

"You're early." She replied, looking up.

"Yeah, where are we?" He asked, not recognising the room as he sat down on the sofa and watched her.

"Home. My house. I can work better here. Although I wish electricity worked because then I could have all my music playing and then I could really concentrate." She sighed, brushing her hair out of her face.

"If you need to work, I can come back later-"  
"No, it's fine, I was about to give up anyway."  
He nodded, and she closed her book and stood up, sitting next to him on the sofa and leaning her head on his shoulder. "Did you get much revision done this morning?"  
"Not really; we kind of gave up and just started talking."  
"About what?"  
"Exams. Life." She nodded, snuggling into his shoulder a little. He could feel her breath on the crook of his neck, and he couldn't resist turning his head and kissing the top of her hair. "Can I ask you something?" She nodded again. "How long are we going to stay like this for?"

"Like what?" She asked quietly, her head darting up with her eyes looking worried.

"Like this." He repeated. "Just you and me. Don't get me wrong, Lou, I love you, but this isn't real. I don't think we need to be like this anymore; we're strong enough for the rest of the world."

"I don't know, I mean, we have our exams and-"  
"And I'm barely getting any work done because all I can think of is you. At least if we tell people, you could come and revise with us."

Louisa bit her lip; James knew she was thinking, and knew she was worried. "What's wrong?"  
"What if they hate me?" She asked, mumbling quickly.

"What?"

"What if they hate me?" She repeated. "I mean, I know they already do, but what if they carry on? After everything I did to you, they'd have every right to and… I don't know, James, I can't handle being reminded of that every day."

He wasn't sure when, but his fingers had intertwined with hers, and he squeezed her hand before replying calmly.

"They know I'm happier right now. They don't know why, but they know, and when they work out that's because of you, it'll be fine." She didn't look reassured. "Lou, they won't hate you. They can't."

She sighed. "Okay."  
"Louisa, we're not doing it if you don't want to."

"No, I do, I'm just… I like it being us. It's perfect-"  
"It won't change, I promise you. I'm not losing you again."

She nodded. "When?"  
"Now."  
"Right now?"

"No time like the present." James replied, unable to easily hide how happy he was at the idea of not having to hide anymore.

"Okay." She smiled. He stood up, and pulled her up with him.

"We need to go somewhere on the way."  
"Where?"

"You'll see."

"Okay." Her spare hand moved to her hair, and she twisted it nervously.

"They'll love you like I do." He told her, before leaning forward to kiss her. "Okay, well maybe not exactly like I do."  
"No, I'm all yours."

…

Rose wasn't stressed about exams. Everyone else was stressed; Rose was fine.  
Exams were something Rose could do. Revising was easy, working out the answers to questions was easy, and practicing spells was almost fun.

So while everyone else around her was stressing out, Rose was looking far too smug for anyone else's liking. And she wasn't going to pretend otherwise.

Scorpius and Al had already kicked her out of their dorm, since Rose had irritated them when she told them the correct answers.

So she'd gone downstairs and sat in the common room, and had been there ever since. Lily and Hugo were testing each other on potions, but Rose was trying to ignore them since they kept getting the answers wrong. Fred, Anna, Roxy, Dom and Jamie had come downstairs a little while ago, complaining that they hated exams and that they couldn't be bothered anymore. Hugo had agreed, and Fred had yelled in reply that they'd got no ideas about stress. Rose had just sat there slightly smugly.

She loved that, for as much as they complained, most of them had now given up on revising. And even though they'd done that, they'd still complain that they didn't get the right grade because they didn't work hard enough. She didn't understand people sometimes.

Thinking this, she was hardly paying attention to Fred and Hugo's squabbling. It almost faded into the background, and she was scanning the rest of the room to see that everyone else had given up on working too.

She thought that maybe Al and Scorpius had given up too, and she could join them upstairs.

She decided against it; the two of them rarely got to hang out alone anymore and she didn't want to come between them.

As she was thinking this, she noticed that the common room seemed to hush. Then there was a wolf whistle from near the portrait hole, and Rose turned quickly to see something she really didn't expect.

James had come inside, with one hand wrapped around Louisa's waist. Rose had to check that Roxy was sat with Jamie, just to check she hadn't accidentally gone back in time. But she hadn't. James and Louisa were most definitely together, right now, and they were walking towards the corner they were sat in.

"Um, hi." James eventually said, looking nervous and like he knew all too well that every Gryffindor was watching him.

"James, what's going on?" Dom asked, smirking and tilting her head.

"Er, look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before but, um, yeah, we're back together. Have been for a while, actually." His grasp on her waist seemed to tighten as he pulled her a little closer to him.

"Really?" Hugo asked.

"No, Hugo, this is all one big practical joke!" Rose replied bitingly.

"Haha." Hugo glared, before the group of them fell quiet again.

"Well, I'm really happy for you two." Roxy said, breaking the quiet, and smiling.

Rose realised that Roxy was really the one who needed to speak, because suddenly the rest of them felt much freer to say what they felt.

"Yeah, me too." Dom agreed, and Rose joined in as Hugo, Lily and Louis nodded their heads and smiled.

The only person who wasn't smiling, and who was sat with their arms firmly crossed, was Fred. Rose wasn't the only one who noticed; Anna even nudged him in the ribs as all eyes fell to him.

"Um, Fred?" James asked quietly, his smile fading.

Fred didn't speak, but instead stood up in front of the new couple.

"Look, Louisa, I really want to be okay with you two. But you broke my best friend's heart, and that's not something I can easily forget."

If it wasn't awkward before, it really was now. Louisa blinked, before turning and looking up at James.

Then she reached into her bag; the irrational part of Rose thought she'd reached for her wand.

Instead, though, she pulled out something quite large that was wrapped in a kitchen towel.

"Um, Fred, I brought you some treacle tart from the kitchens." She replied, as James smirked next to her.

Fred glanced from the tart, to Louisa, to James, before a smile crossed his face again.

"I'm so happy for you two!" He said excitedly, opening his arms and squashing the two of them in a hug.

Rose just burst into laughter with the rest of her family, as Fred moved to sit in the corner of the sofa and gestured for Louisa to sit next to him before he opened the towel and tucked in to his favourite desert.

"I think you have a new best friend, Louisa." James joked, before sitting on the armrest next to her, reaching out and twisting his fingers with hers.

Roxy was still laughing. "Oh, Fred you're so predictable!"  
"Sh, you're just jealous that I have treacle tart and you don't."

"True." Jamie teased.

Rose stayed quiet as conversation turned to their favourite foods, and turned to smile at Louisa.

She knew she still owed the head girl a lot. She still thought it was her fault that James and Louisa had ever gone so wrong in the first place, and it had only just dawned on her that she'd never apologised to Louisa for everything that happened. Now wasn't the time, though, she knew that.

She stood up, somehow her mind telling her to go and find Scorpius to prove that all that drama hadn't happened for nothing, not that it was particularly sensible.

"Right, I'm off to catch Al and Scorpius up." She stated, before leaving up the boys' stairs.

Just as she'd expected, she arrived upstairs to find two boys who were most definitely not revising. They were sat on their beds with chocolate frog cards laid out in front of them, talking in unusually hushed voices for two people who were so alone.

"Rose, hi!" Al said in an unnaturally loud voice, when Rose closed the door behind her.

"Hi," She asked suspiciously, "What were you two talking about?"

"Nothing." Scorpius replied, smiling in an unnatural way that Rose hadn't seen since last year. "Come sit down."  
She decided to ignore it, she thought it may be something she didn't want to know. Shrugging, she moved to sit on Scorp's bed, and he reached his hand out to her and she took it.

"Did you get much work done?" She asked.

"Does it look like we did?" Scorpius replied, tilting his head towards the discarded books on the ends of the beds. "What did you do, anyway?"

"Not much." Rose shrugged. "Although, I do have some news."

"Yeah?"  
"James is back together with Louisa."

Scorpius smiled. "Good for him."  
Al just shrugged, and Rose got the impression that he couldn't care much less.

He wasn't the same anymore, Rose thought. He hadn't been the same for a while; she wasn't stupid enough to think it was just the stress of exams. If Scorpius couldn't find out what it was, though, Rose was resigned to the fact they wouldn't know for a while.

"Do you think we should get back to revising?" Al suggested eventually.

"Can I stay?" Rose asked Scorpius, and he nodded.

"Don't be too annoying though." Al commanded.  
"I promise." She replied, before leaning her head against Scorpius' shoulder as he reached for his books and began to fire questions at Al.

In effort to stay quiet, Rose concentrated on anything other than the questions. She found herself watching as Scorpius' chest rose and fell, smiling every time he cheered at getting a question right. She found herself playing with his fingers calmly, then started playing with his shirt with her spare hand. It was all absentmindedly; it kept her calm, and made her feel peaceful. She found herself drifting away, liking that the boys sounded louder and more echoic as she shifted from Scorpius' shoulder to his lap, his hands calmly playing with her hair while he and Al still asked each other ridiculously easy questions…

When the door slammed, Rose resisted joining the real world, kind of liking clinging to where she was. But Scorp's hand pulled away from her hair, and she could feel his body tense up, she opened one eye to see what was happening.

She jumped up when she saw who was stood there, and within a split second she watched as Maddie flung her wand out of her pocket and went charging towards Al, who somehow jumped off the bed and backed into a corner.

"Albus Severus Potter you tell me it's not true!" She yelled, her wand pressed up against Al's throat while her lips quivered and her eyes glared.

"I-I-"  
"Mads?" Rose said quietly, "Mads, what's going on?"

She stood up, carefully walking towards Maddie, while Scorp stayed sat down and just watched, and Al just shook his head.

"Ask him." Maddie replied, not even looking like herself. Her blonde hair was wild; her hands were shaking while her blue eyes slowly filled with tears that were steadily blinked away.

"Al?" Rose asked, turning to her cousin. If she thought that he'd been pretending to be okay for the last few months, it all fell apart in those few moments. Green eyes had never looked so guilty.

"I said, tell me it's not true." Maddie repeated.

Rose had never seen Al look more nervous; whatever they were talking about was true. Even so, he shook his head, "It's not true."  
"What's not true?" Rose asked.  
"Laura says you slept with her." Maddie said, still looking at nowhere but Al. Rose stared. "That's not true?"  
"It's not true." Al lied.

Rose could tell he was lying. She wasn't even concentrating on what Maddie was saying, she just watched the way Al was blinking, and the sides of his eyes were crinkling, and he was staring at the floor…  
"She told me it's been eating her up inside, and that she couldn't lie to me anymore. She told me, and she told Craig; she says she slept with you on memorial day."  
Rose turned to look at Maddie. That couldn't be true, could it? She looked back at Al, though, and he was still lying. Clearly lying; anyone else would be able to tell. Except Maddie, who always saw the good in people, and who was unfailingly naïve. Rose knew that Maddie would hear whatever she wanted to hear; she could see in her eyes that Maddie was going to believe everything Al said, and she didn't know whether to say something or not.

"It's not true." Al still lied, but somehow he looked guiltier; that meant it was true. She felt a horrible disgust in her cousin, but resisted the urge to yell at him. "I swear, I didn't."  
"You swear?" Maddie asked, lowering her wand. Her lips stopped quivering and her eyes stopped filling with tears… She was believing it, Rose knew she was. And one look at Al told her that he knew too.

"I swear, Mads, I wouldn't do that."

"You wouldn't." She agreed.

"I wouldn't." He repeated.

Rose couldn't let him do that. He was smiling, still looking guilty but kind of goofy; Maddie was almost melting into him.

"Come on, don't let some stupid girl break us; we're stronger than that."  
Maddie reached out and linked her hand with his. "I know we are."  
Rose had to say something. She had to-

"Al, stop."

Scorpius' voice came from behind her. She'd practically forgotten he was there, but she turned to see him standing and staring at Al, his eyes narrow. "Stop lying to her." He commanded, looking scarily serious and angry and… Rose turned to see that Al looked as scared as she felt.

"Scorpius-"  
"Tell her the truth, Al." He told him, as Maddie dropped Al's hand and moved towards Rose, and the two of them watched as the two boys stared each other out.

"What? I-"  
"Tell her the truth or I will."

It felt a little bit like getting slapped in the face, when you realise that someone's been lying to you, Rose realised. First she looked at Maddie, whose eyes just filled with tears all over again, and then she turned to Al, who looked like he'd been petrified.

Finally her eyes rested on Scorpius, who wasn't even looking at Al anymore; he was looking straight at her.

"You knew?" She asked quietly. "You knew Al cheated on her; you knew he slept with Laura on memorial day?"

"Yes, but-"

"You knew and you didn't tell me?"  
"I promised I wouldn't." While Rose got louder, Scorpius' voice remained steady; he kept glaring at Al every moment or two but every other second his eyes were locked on hers. "I wanted to tell you, but he's my best friend-"  
"He's a cheat!" She yelled. "He cheated on your other friend, he's been lying to us for months, he was- Memorial day, Al, really?" Rose demanded, turning on her cousin who was still cowering in the corner. There was no way he could hide it anymore; it was written all over his face even more obviously than it had been before. Maddie was sobbing now; she couldn't defend herself; Rose decided to do it for her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"  
"I… I was drunk. You know what I'm like when I drink too much and I-"  
"Memorial day, Al!"

"I know! I'm sorry, okay-"  
"Yeah, you look it." Rose replied angrily.

"No, look, Scorpius will tell you; I am sorry. I don't want Maddie hurt, that's why I didn't say anything. I had to tell someone so I told Scorpius and… I made him keep quiet, Rose, he didn't want to."

Rose turned back on Scorpius. "How can you have not told us? How can you have lied-?"  
"He's my best friend." He replied, as if that explained it all.  
"-I even asked you what was going on-"

"So if Maddie cheated on Al, you'd tell me would you?"  
"That's different."  
"Why?"  
"Maddie wouldn't cheat! She actually has morals, she's not like your friend over there."

"He's your cousin-!"  
"I wish he wasn't."

Scorpius shook his head. "You're genuinely telling me to choose my girlfriend over my best friend?"

Rose blinked. "You think I'm just your girlfriend?"

She didn't want to sound demanding; she didn't want to challenge him but this time he'd genuinely hurt her. The thought of him just thinking of her like that; the same way Al thought of Maddie… She always thought they were so much more than that.

"Of course not, no that's not what I meant, Rose." He sighed. "But you can't expect me to choose you over my best friend, not just like that."

"Really?" Rose asked, turning to look between Maddie, Al and Scorpius once more. "Because I'm choosing my best friend over you." She said finally, before taking Maddie's shaking hand and pulling her out of the dorm quickly.

"Rose, d-don't argue with Scorpius because of me-"

"I'm not." Rose replied harshly, storming down the stairs and then back up to hers, careful to make sure no one watched them for too long and realised something was wrong. Scorpius didn't follow them, neither did Al. They didn't even try. She shut the door behind her, before sitting on the bed and sighing.

"Rose-"

"He lied." She said quietly, her voice shaking a little. She was still so angry; her mind was only just really catching up with everything that had happened. _Al cheated on Maddie. Al cheated on Maddie on memorial day. Al cheated on Maddie on memorial day and Scorpius knew but chose not to tell her… _

_He lied. _

"Rose, he didn't mean to hurt you-"

"Yeah, well he did."

She knew she was being self-centred. Maddie was the one with the cheating boyfriend yet Rose was sat there moping. She tried to pull herself out of it, but she couldn't. _He lied. _

"He loves you."

Rose just shook her head. "I'm sorry about Al."  
Maddie was still sobbing, yet somehow she was being the more sensible one. "You didn't know."  
"No, but Scorpius did and I'm sorry."  
"It's not your fault. And it's not Scorpius'; he was being a friend."

Rose couldn't bring herself to be reasonable. All she could think was that _he lied. _

"You and Scorpius have to be okay, Rose, please don't let me and Al mess you up-"  
"Scorpius messed us up."

"Things will be okay though. You and Scorpius are meant to be, more than Al and I…"

Rose wasn't so sure.

_He lied. _


	74. The Guilty

Hey guys. So, it's only been, what, 11 days since I last updated! I'm almost being reliable…!

Thanks so much for all the reviews and favourites and things! I really appreciate is, as always.  
Anonymous reviews: __ _(Aha, I hope so too! :D), _Angel _(I'm so glad you like the story and I'm glad you understand Rose's reaction. I'm glad you love my stories; thank you for the review! Please keep the reviews coming!), _Just-as-loony-as-luna_ (I'm glad you liked the story and thank you for the review! :D)_, Secret1234 _(I'm glad you liked the chapter, and lucky you; there's a little bit of Teddy/Dom in this chapter. Thanks for the review!), _Secret _(I'm glad you like drama; this story is perfect for you! Thank you so much for the review!), _clashercutie101 _(I'm glad you liked it; thank you so much for the review! I'm glad you liked the drama, but no worries, I will try and force the peace!), _Purpleflower23 _(I'm sorry, but thanks for reviewing! :D), __ _(I know, poor Scorp! Thanks for reviewing!), _Nikki _(I'm glad you like the story, thanks so much for reviewing!), _rednose _(It is quite a situation, really, isn't it. I'm glad you liked the James and Louisa bit and thank you so much for reviewing) and _cloudsong _(I'm so glad you like the fic, thanks so much for the review!)  
I do hope I've replied to all the rest of you! :) 27 more reviews until 2000; I can't believe it! I can't believe the number of alerts and favourites; I could genuinely cry at how amazing that is. _arep-mischiefmanaged_ also added me to their _Novels to Not Put Down _community and that's awesome too.

I hope you like this chapter; I'm actually quite proud of it for a change! :D Please keep reviewing for me; it's almost at the end now and I'm getting nervous!  
The next chapter is Roxy then Lily. Any guesses? :)

**_Disclaimer: _**_Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco and all their children are not mine. Neither are Fred's, Bill's or even Molly and Arthur's. In fact, none of the characters are mine. They're all JKRs. _

* * *

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventy Four- ****The Guilty)**

When Al woke up, he wished he hadn't.

He closed his eyes again, turning over and pulling his pillow over his eyes.

He wasn't sure when he'd fallen to sleep; he couldn't remember even being able to close his eyes last night.

After standing in the corner of his dorm for what felt like hours, staring at the door that Rose had just slammed, his eyes had caught Scorpius'. His best friend was staring at the door harder, as if he wanted to burn a hole through it. Al had tried to speak; he'd tried to make it better in some way, but Scorpius had just looked up and shook his head.

"_You didn't even… You didn't even say anything." _Scorpius had said, staring at an intensity that made Al squirm. "_You were going to carry on lying, even though she already knew… What the hell is wrong with you?" _

Al hadn't been able to reply.

"_Well, "mate", at least you took my relationship down with yours._" Scorpius had said finally, before picking up the jacket that was thrown across the bed and storming out of the door.

Al turned, opening his eyes and looking at the empty bed next to him; Scorpius hadn't come back.

He didn't know what to do today. He knew what he wished he could do; he wanted to get up and apologise to everyone, and sort everything out before his exam at nine o'clock in the morning. He knew it couldn't happen like that, though.

He knew that he would have to wake up eventually, probably two minutes before his exam, and then run inside the hall and ignore Rose, Maddie and Scorpius' glares and try in vain to concentrate. He'd come out of his exam, knowing he'd failed, then lock himself away in his dorm until the afternoon exam, where he'd have to sit in silence with his back against the wall, and wait to be examined on spells he hadn't even practiced.

That was exactly what he did, actually. He was sat with in the corridor outside the hall, his back against the wall, hating that he hadn't managed to do one of the things he'd hoped to do; he'd watched in silence as Rose had walked straight past a hopeful looking Scorpius, to sit in her seat further down from Al.

One by one, Defence students left to do their exam in the hall. Officially, the rest of them were meant to be silent while they waited, but the corridor was almost deafening with panicked last-minute revision. The person sat next to Al stood up to talk to someone else, and Al found that Laura Spinnet was sat in the next seat along. Al really hated alphabetical order in that moment.

He'd never wanted to yell at anyone as much as he did right then. He wanted to ask what the hell she thought she was doing, just telling Maddie without even having the courtesy to warn him that his world was about to fall apart…

He was glaring at her, and she seemed to sense it. But she just glanced up, stared him straight in the eyes, and winked, before smirking and walking away to speak to one of her friends. Al couldn't help but watch her, his mouth open in a stunned way.

She winked. What does that even mean? To Al, he thought it meant that she knew; she knew how much she'd ruined his life… She knew exactly what she was doing.

She'd hadn't really told Craig and Maddie out of caring, had she? And if she didn't draw the line at telling his girlfriend, who else would she tell?

Al felt a horrible sinking in the pit of his stomach as he watched Laura whisper at one of her friends, before they both laughed in his direction.

He forced himself to look away from her, turning his head and realising that Rose was watching him, four chairs down,

"Unbelievable." She mumbled quietly, before turning to read her books again.

Al genuinely hated himself. As people kept walking into their exam, Al swore the names of people he'd hurt stood out even more.

"Madeline Fletcher."

Weirdly, Al thought, Madeline didn't look as much of a wreck as Rose, whose hair was scooped from her face and she had shadows under her eyes and… Madeline looked almost unnaturally normal. In fact, she almost looked like she'd made more of an effort than normal; her hair was curled perfectly and her makeup made her eyes look like they were sparkling…

More letters of the alphabet whizzed by, and Al wondered whether he should be practicing like the rest of them were.

"Scorpius Malfoy."

Al looked up to see that Scorpius hadn't slept somewhere else last night; he just hadn't slept.

Al glanced at Rose and saw she hadn't even looked up, or if she did she'd done it so quickly that Al hadn't noticed, because she was staring down at the page in front of her with just as much attention as she had been before.

It wasn't much longer until Al's name was called out.

And as he'd predicted, he'd walked inside and failed his exam, walked back outside and glanced at Rose one last time before practically running away again.

He arrived back in his dorm and threw himself on the bed.

That was until someone cleared their throat. "Guessing the exam went well, then."

Al shot up, and saw James and Roxy stood over him with their arms crossed.

"What the hell are you two-?"

"Doing in here?" James completed. "We don't have exams. And since Roxy's head girl, and I'm your brother, we thought you needed some damage control before you tried to actually face the school."  
"Wait, what-?"  
"Is it true?"  
"Is what true?" Al played dumb, although one look at Roxy told him there was no point.

"Al, everyone's talking about it. We haven't seen any of you four since yesterday afternoon, and then this morning Laura came and chatted to us all over breakfast." Roxy's voice was laced with sarcasm, "She told us some wonderful stories, Al."

Al just fell backwards again, his head hitting the pillow hard. "Yeah, it's true, okay, and now I've ruined everything, and now Rose and Scorpius aren't talking-"  
"Okay, as much as I'd love to listen to you feel sorry for yourself, I don't think you understand."

"Understand what?"

Al didn't like the look that Roxy and James shared.

"Al, Laura's told everyone. Not just us; everyone. It's spreading around the school like fiendfyre, and we're trying to deny it but it's not working; Laura's got to everyone first. They know it's true and we can't convince them otherwise."  
Al blinked. Everyone knew? Within twenty four hours, it had gone from three people knowing to… Everyone?

"No one's said anything to me." Al shrugged.

"Why would they? They're talking _about_ you, not to you."

"Okay, well it'll die down and until then I'll just deal with it-"  
"Al, you don't get it, she doesn't have any boundaries!" James' fists clenched and he stormed to the other side of the room. "She told us, without even blinking; without even caring. She's told the entire school within the last 12 hours-"  
"Well then-"  
"Al, apparently she's written to the prophet."

"What?" Al shot out of bed and towards the door. He didn't know where he planned on going, but he just had to get out of there. "She can't-"

James ran to the door of the dorm, and stood in front of it. Al stopped in his tracks, just staring at his brother and wondering what to do now.  
"She can if it's true." James said simply, "I know you don't want to hear it but, Al, it's going to get out."  
"The headlines will be great; _"Youngest Potter boy cheats on memorial day."_" Roxy's sarcasm was still there, but her voice faded into disappointment as she sat down on Al's bed.

"Wha-what can I do?" Al asked quietly, hating that his desperation came across in his voice. James just shrugged back, before looking over Al's shoulder at Roxy. Al turned as well, and Roxy bit her lip.

"I don't know." She replied honestly. "I don't know, Al, nothing like this has happened before, and we're not having all that drama from the prophet with the parents again. Once they get one story, Al, they'll keep looking for more and…I don't know you're meant to do."

Al mumbled something about how unhelpful she was under his breath.

"Al, you need to get to the people who matter first." James' voice came from behind him, and he sounded as if he'd finally found a solution.

"But everyone in school knows-"  
"I mean our family, Al, they can't read it in the papers." Al shook his head, walking to the window and pushing it open; he felt like he was suffocating.

"James is right; you have to make sure your parents know before they read it. You never know, they may even be able to stop it coming out in the papers."

Al shook his head, turning back around. "I can't. I can't tell Mum and Dad!" He couldn't even think about it. He couldn't imagine seeing the disappointment on his father's face. He couldn't be that guy; he had never wanted anyone to find out and now it was all crumbling to pieces around him and there was no way to fix it…

"Al, you tell them or I will." James didn't seem to like what he was saying; understanding burnt through his eyes and that just made Al angrier; why was making things worse? "It's the only way you can make it even a little better. I know that you didn't mean to; I remember you the morning after memorial day, Al, and I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone. I'm not going to pretend that we're all okay with it; Fred and Louis are really angry, and Lily and Hugo don't quite believe it. The least you can do is tell our parents before someone else does. Damage control, Al, I told you."  
"Fine, I'll write to them." Al replied, turning and storming towards his desk. He pulled out a piece of paper and a quill, and sat; he knew the other two were watching as he wrote out his address.

_Dear Mum and Dad, _he scribbled on the paper.

He didn't know what he was meant to write now. He remembered when he'd written to Maddie over the holidays; letters full of promises and love that everyone had believed in… He couldn't write anymore. He couldn't write down the truth. He'd gone the whole day without having to explain it. He didn't want to start now.

It was as if James knew, because next thing Al knew his brother was patting his shoulder. Al turned and looked up.

"I've ruined everything, haven't I? Maddie, Scorpius and Rose; I've ruined it. Everyone hates me and-"  
"It'll be okay eventually. Not soon, but eventually. We'll stick by you, don't worry."

When Al was little, everyone used to tease him about how much he worshipped his brother. But right now, in this moment, he wasn't ashamed to say how much he loved James. He wasn't ashamed to say how much he needed James. James was always a better person than Al; he'd had more fun and yet he'd never made the mistakes Al had.

"I'll help you write it, okay?" James said quietly, pulling a chair up next to Al at the desk. "It's going to be alright."

Al really needed James, but he still couldn't believe him. Al didn't think anything would ever be okay again.

…

Exams were never easy. Exams were even harder when they literally dictated your future. They were harder still when you hadn't got time to revise for your exams, because you were busy denying rumours for the sake of your cousin.

Yeah, Dom was pretty sure she was going to fail every exam she had this week. And she couldn't help but blame Al for all of it.

Dom, as forgiving as she tried to be for it all, couldn't quite understand. She had thought that Al was happy. She knew Al and Maddie were no Rose and Scorpius, but she still thought they were happy. She didn't think he would cheat.

She was understanding of cheating though; she'd done it herself and knew what Al was going through; she had no right to be judgemental. Even the rest of the family had been able to get over that part of the story. They couldn't get over the fact that he had cheated on memorial day.

Fred was the angriest; he refused to even try defending Al like the rest of them did. He even supported some of the conversations they overheard, which hurled insults at Al.

James and Roxy, the two Dom had expected to be angriest, since they had been cheated on themselves, were the most understanding. While Fred yelled and the younger ones struggled to speak, James and Roxy were the two who defended him.

"Look, I know you're angry, and I know that what he did was wrong; but he knows that too. Trust me, he knows it." James sighed when later that night the eight of them sat down in the common room. Louisa and Anna were there too, but they looked weirdly out of the group as they sat on the edge of one of the sofas and watched.

"Memorial day, James. Memorial day! And he hasn't even come down and shown his face. He's let us sit here and take all the crap for him!"

"Fred-"  
"No, Roxy, you know I'm right. He's sat up in his room, feeling sorry for himself, expecting us to sit and pretend to be okay with what he did!"  
"He doesn't." James shook his head. "He doesn't expect that. You don't get it; he knows how bad things are. He doesn't want to accept it, you know what he's like, but he knows."

"How can you be so okay with this?" Lily asked quietly, while Fred just folded his arms angrily.

James shrugged, before looking over at Louisa. "Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes things aren't as black and white as wrong and right. He's sorry, and he needs our support right now. We're his family; he's lost everyone else."  
Dom nodded, remembering that they had tried to speak to Scorpius about it earlier and he had just shook his head and said he wasn't getting involved. Rose hadn't left Maddie's side, not once.

"Has Al apologised? To Maddie?" Louis asked.

"I don't know. I feel like we should speak to her. Her and Rose; they can't carry on the way they are, think about their exams."

"You would think of exams, Rox." Hugo smiled. "But you're right, I don't like seeing Rose like that."  
"She's not talking to Scorpius." Fred pointed out. "Do you think he knew?"

Some of them nodded, Dom included. She'd heard the rumours; Laura said that Scorpius had known for ages and was helping Al cover up.

"But he's Al's best friend. I mean, I'd cover for Jake if he asked me to." Louis shrugged.  
"The thing is, though, that Jake never would." Hugo replied.

"I never thought Al would either." Lily sighed. "He's my big brother, I thought he was one of the good guys."  
"He is." James assured her. "He just lost his way."

They fell into a shared silence, but it didn't spread through the common room. Everyone else continued to gossip, all too loudly, about the days' events.

"_I heard that Malfoy hit Potter when he first found out-…" "I was at the party; there were pictures of dead people on the walls…!" "Rose and Scorpius are broken up, did you hear…?" "…Yeah, and then he agreed to keep it a secret." "Do you reckon that the Potters knew…?" "It'll be in the Prophet tomorrow…" "…Well, there goes all my dreams of marrying a Potter; I'd rather not be cheated on." "…She just walked straight past him, as if he wasn't even there; now try and tell me they're still a couple!"_

"I'm going to talk to Rose." Dom said, standing. "We need to check she's okay; talk to Maddie, maybe."  
"I was just thinking that." James nodded. "Tell Maddie that we're here if she needs us; it doesn't matter if she's not with Al anymore."

Dom nodded, before going up the stairs to the girls' dorms. She knocked on Rose's door when she arrived, but when no one replied she let herself in.

Rose was sat on her bed, books open but staring straight ahead. Curtains were pulled around Maddie's bed, while the other two beds were perfectly made and empty.

"Laura's gone. She's staying with Craig. Gemma's gone to stay with Andrew for a while." Rose explained quietly, obviously noticing Dom's questioning looks.

"Are you okay?" Dom asked quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed tentatively.

Rose shook her head. "No," She sighed. "How could I be? Everyone's talking about me; everyone knows and… Scorpius and I are ruined."

"Why?"  
"Because he knew. He knew and he didn't tell me."  
"Rose, Al's his best friend-"  
"That doesn't make it okay! Why does everyone keep telling me that, as if it makes it okay that he lied to me?"

She'd gone from very quiet to very loud, very quickly. Dom could only guess at how much she was hurting, if even she didn't have control over her emotions.

"He knew that my cousin was nothing but a disgusting, cheating basta-"  
"Rose, come on-"  
"I hate Al for all of this. I actually, physically hate him. I hate that he hurt Maddie, I hate that he had sex on memorial day for god's sake! I hate that he made Scorpius lie; I hate that he ruined something that was perfect. I hate him-"  
"Rose, you're being unreasonable." Dom said quietly. "We don't completely understand what happened that night; maybe he had his reasons-"  
"There is never a good reason to cheat. Laura threw herself at someone who she knew wasn't available, and Al was stupid enough to let her."

Dom blinked, as Rose looked back at her, breathing heavily.

Something about what Rose said had hit Dom too hard.

"It's not always like that." Dom said quietly.  
"What?"

"Cheating. It's not always wrong; sometimes things aren't as simple as that-"

"Al slept with Laura-"  
Dom was barely listening, though. She continued talking; it wasn't Al that she was defending anymore. "Sometimes they love each other."

She realised what she'd done. She wished she could inhale every word she'd just said.

"What? Dom, what are you talking about?" Rose asked, looking confused.

"Nothing." Dom replied shortly. "Forget I said anything. So you hate Al…"  
Rose just shook her head. "No. What are you talking about?"

Dom didn't know what she was doing. She didn't know how the conversation had changed like this. She just wanted to leave, and go back down to the common room and complain with all the rest of her family. She didn't want to be here.

"Dom, you can tell me."

"I can't." Dom shook her head. "I can't. If you think what Al did is bad then-"

"Dom." Rose looked at her sternly. "Who?"

Dom shook her head. Tears had risen in her eyes. Why was she doing this?

Somehow, though, her mouth seemed to have taken control. Her brain screamed for her to stop, but she carried on anyway.

"Teddy. But please, please promise me you won't say anything…"

Her voice trailed away as Rose stared at her, her mouth open. Dom shifted uncomfortably, as Rose shook her head.

"Forget I said anything." Dom said quickly, standing up.

Rose caught her wrist.

"Teddy?" She asked quietly. "Teddy, as in… As in our Teddy?"

Dom just nodded; the tears she was trying to hold back began to spill out of her eyes, but somehow her heart felt just a fraction lighter.

"I love him." She said quietly, the weight on her heart lightening still. Rose's eyes widened; the two of them were breathing deeply, as if breathing would turn the silence into something else.

"Does he love you?"

Dom bit her lip, and shrugged. "I don't know. Not anymore; he's going to be happy with Vic, he promised me he would try."  
He had. He had promised that he wouldn't give up on Victoire just before he left; he'd pulled Dom into the corner of the room and his eyes had sparkled blue as he spoke.

"But… You and him?"

Dom looked down into Rose's eyes for the first time, and hated what she saw. There was this horrible mix of shock and disappointment that shattered Dom's heart into pieces.

"It's not like you think." Dom shook her head, tears spilling from her eyes uncontrollably now as she sat down. Rose's hand slipped from around her wrist, and Dom bent over to put her hand in her faces. "We kissed once, alright, and I almost lost Vic over it so it could never happen again. I swear, I never wanted anyone to get hurt, and now Vic and Teddy are happy again so it's okay and-"  
"Aren't you hurting?"

She looked up again; Rose wasn't judging anymore. She put her arms out and Dom fell into them; she felt like the child, when she'd come upstairs to look after Rose.

"I'm sorry." Dom said quietly, wiping her eyes, and pulling herself away. "I'm sorry you know and I'm sorry you had to see me like this-"  
"Don't be." Rose shook her head. "I mean, I wish I didn't know too but… Dom, this is the most human I've ever seen you." She bit her lip. "It's like I'm seeing the real you, and I hate to think that you're really hurting this much. You don't always have to pretend for us, we're your family; we're here for you."  
Dom smiled, considering replying with an honest comment that she preferred that people thought she was inhuman than weak, but instead she just shrugged. "Al's our family as well."  
Rose looked like she was thinking of an argument, but changed her mind. "Maybe, I guess. It's just hard-"  
"I know-"  
"It's hard to see that people aren't everything they seem to be." Rose carried on. "But sometimes, Dom, they turn out to be so much more than they seem."


	75. Who You Really Are

I hit 2000 reviews. I can't believe it; I genuinely cried when I realised. I appreciate you reviewers so so so much!  
Anyway, I plan on replying to all of you reviewers, but I thought I should post the new first since that's probably more important.  
Anonymous reviewers: _HPfanatic _(Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the future chapters!), _Sophia _(Thanks so much for the review  
and thanks for liking Dom and Teddy; everyone's entitled to their opinion but I do agree! :D I agree about Al aswell! Please review again; thankyou!), _Anon _(Sorry!), _Purpleflower23 _(I'm glad you liked the Dom twist, thanks for the review!), _JustSomeone _(I'm glad you feel sorry for Dom, but I agree that I hope everything works out with Rose and Al etc. Thanks for the congratulations; I'm so proud! Thanks for reviewing!), _MEE _(I'm glad you liked the bonding, and ahh please don't stop reading! I promise I'll try! Keep reviewing!), _Iloveharrypotter _(Here is more!) and _rednose _(I'm glad you liked the chapter and thanks so much for reviewing! I'm so glad the last line meant something to  
you; I truly agree with everything you said!).  
So, thanks again to all you alerters, reviewers and favouriters; if I can reply to you then I definitely will very soon!

For any of you who are interested, my tumblr url changed to _flitwickslittlebrother_, so if you want to see what I'm up to just go to _flitwickslittlebrother . tumblr . com_ without the spaces!

I hope you all like the new chapter! Please tell me your thoughts!

**_Disclaimer:_**_ JKR is back on the scene with this Pottermore drama; just shows that Harry potter is really not mine; it's all hers!_

* * *

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventy Five- Who You Really Are)**

Roxy stared at the page in front of her.

She was on the last question of her exam. The last question of her _last_ exam.

_Give the effect of a Love Potion, name a notable creator of love potions, and name and describe the strongest love potion in the world._

She smirked. She could answer that, and she could answer it easily.

_Love potions ostensibly cause the drinker to become infatuated with the person who gave them the potion. However, true love cannot be produced through artificial means, and thus the feelings that Love Potions create are more of an obsession than affection. The effect of a love potion wears off over time, typically 24 hours but it is dependent on the weight of the drinker and the attractiveness of the giver. There are anecdotes to love potions and the Love Potion can cancel out the effects of a Hate Potion and vice versa. A notable creator of love potions is Laverne de Montmorency in the 1800s, and the Weasley twins in 1996. Amortentia is the strongest love potion, which is recognisable by it's mother-of-pearl sheen and spiralling steam; the smell of the potion varies and is dependent upon what an individual finds appealing. _

That was it. She was done. She glanced at the clock and saw she was down to the last ten minutes of her exam.

She checked through what she had written, then lay her quill down on the table and stared at the clock as it ticked by.

She felt weirdly emotional, as the last minutes of the exam went past. Dom, two seats ahead of her, was staring out of the window, while Fred behind her was half asleep. Roxy glanced to her side and saw that James was desperately flicking through the last few pages, and Louisa was calmly reading through her answers again on the other side.

Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing when the last minute began. Roxy watched as the second hand moved, finding herself wishing that it would slow down, or maybe even stop.

It was all very anti-climactic though; Roxy expected some sort of fireworks when she was finished with her education, but instead Professor McGonagall accioed all of the papers to her as always, and everyone filed out in silence.

Outside the doors; that was when the fireworks hit. The seventh years who didn't take potions were stood outside, and they cheered when the doors were thrown open. People started hugging each other, cheering that they were finally done; they were grown up.

Her brother had actually let off fireworks, and Roxy laughed with Anna and Dom as Fred and James enjoyed the attention, chanting "party".

"Are we actually having a party?" Dom asked Anna, who shook her head.

"Nah, they're saving the alcohol until the last day." Anna replied.

"You're joking aren't you? They've got enough to party every night until the last day!" Dom laughed. "They've been saving up for years!" Roxy added.

"Yeah, well you don't know what they're planning!" Anna smiled, as James and Fred climbed onto one of the benches and cheered louder. James pulled Louisa up with him, and Anna laughed and skipped over.

Roxy felt arms wrap around her waist from behind her.

"I don't want to be grown up." Jamie whispered in her ear.

"Me neither." She sighed back, her hands twisting with his. As everyone else squashed around James and Fred, Jamie and Roxy stayed still, until eventually they were far away from the rest of their year.  
"Come with me." He said quietly, unclasping his arms and pulling her away. She didn't complain, she just followed and liked that the craziness was fading and her head was clearing.

They ended up in the head's dorms. Roxy guessed that Jamie had seen Craig celebrating downstairs, so he knew they'd be alone. Roxy loved that the portrait just let Jamie in, without a head boy badge. It was like he belonged.

He sat on the sofa, leaning back so she could sit with him.

"How was the exam?" He asked, after a while of both of them getting comfortable next to each other.

"Alright, what did you think?"  
"I thought it was fine." His hands had twisted into her hair. "I hate thinking that that's it though."

"I know what you mean. I wish we could just stay like this forever; I don't want to leave Hogwarts and grow up."

"I don't want to leave you." He whispered.

Roxy sighed.

Everyone was splitting up around them; Jamie's best friend broke up with his girlfriend of three years last week, and all the seventh year Slytherins were single now… Roxy was scared she was next.

She shook her head. "I don't want this to change."

"I hoped you'd say that."  
"Why?"  
His voice had turned quiet; she could hear him breathing deeply. "Move in with me."

Roxy turned, and blinked at him, staring him in the eyes to be sure he was serious.

He didn't look serious; he just looked nervous. So inexplicably nervous that Roxy just thought he was adorable; she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he seemed to relax into her.

"Really?" She checked.

He nodded. "I'm not losing you again."

Until that moment, Roxy's plans after school had been somewhat indefinite. She planned to move home for a few months, then get a job in the ministry and move to be near there; probably with Louisa or Anna or Dom…

Now she had a plan. And somehow, leaving school suddenly didn't seem as scary.

She was going to live with Jamie. Somewhere. Where didn't matter; she'd be with him.

"Of course I will." She smiled, before leaning in and letting her lips touch his lightly.

"You have no idea how much I love you." He said quietly, his hands moving down to her hips.

"I think we're about equal." She smiled, before kissing him properly.

Jamie was different to Craig. Jamie was different to Craig in so many ways, but it was times like this that it was really obvious.

She never realised, but she felt kind of pressured with Craig. She'd thought it was normal to think so much or to let the guy control what happened. She didn't feel like that with Jamie; she never felt as comfortable as she did when she was curled up and kissing him.

Sometimes, though, she got too comfortable. The two of them forgot where they were; shared dorm rooms and classrooms didn't seem as public anymore. A lot of people had seen them in rather compromising positions.

"Oh god; my eyes!" James exclaimed after jumping through the portrait hole as Louisa, who was by now very used to this sight, just laughed and walked into her room.

"Shut up, James." Roxy replied weakly, as she and Jamie sat up reluctantly, his hands still under her shirt around her back.

James, still covering his eyes, edged his way towards Louisa's dorm, before calling "Carry on like we're not here; everyone's celebrating that exams are over in their own way!"

He slammed the door, and Roxy turned and smiled at Jamie.

"When we live together, no one will walk in on us."

He smiled, kissing her again lightly. They rested their foreheads together, his breath skimming past her nose.

"Your family will always just invite themselves though."  
"We can lock our door."

"_Our door._ That sounds nice." He leant forward, his nose skimming hers affectionately. Their eyelashes almost touched. "_Our bedroom_ sounds nicer though."

She smacked him playfully, before shifting to sit up. "We should, er-"  
"Do what? We have nothing to do now exams are over." He smiled, leaning back and lounging on the sofa.

"Then we should do nothing with everyone else, since I don't want to overhear James and Louisa!" She shrugged. Then a thought came to her. "Besides, I need to talk to Fred."  
"Why?"

She laughed a little to herself. "I promised him I would tell him when I was moving out."

Jamie smiled back a little bemusedly, and Roxy sat down and explained as best she could.

When they were four, Roxy had been forced to move out of the room she shared with Fred. The two of them had cried; Fred clung to Roxy's feet and George had to hold him back. That night, they'd knocked through the wall to each other, until they fell asleep. When they moved house when they were ten, their rooms weren't next to each other anymore. There were no more soothing knocks on the wall, and Fred and Roxy started sneaking into each other's rooms and sleeping on the floor, just so they weren't far from each other. As they grew up, they'd gotten more used to sleeping alone, but they still couldn't be too far from the other. Fred had been eleven when he had first slept over at James' without Roxy and Dom going as well. Roxy had cried all night; Fred had come home in the morning and confessed that he'd done the same.

"_I don't like it when I can't just run and see you." _He had whined. _"We're too far away."_

Roxy couldn't explain it, but was pleased that he felt it too. When he was far away, it was like a little part of her was missing. Only a very little piece, that wasn't necessarily overly important, but she still knew it was missing. She wondered if it was only the two of them that felt that way, or whether it was a twin thing, but she only knew of one other twin, and she couldn't ask her Dad about Fred.

After Roxy stayed at Craig's for a week last summer, she'd come home and almost been tackled to the ground by her brother. It had only taken minutes for the two of them to realise that they only had a year until neither of them would even have the same home to go to.

"_Promise me that you'll warn me when you're leaving, because I won't say this often but I'll miss you."_

So, keeping to her promise, she searched for Fred.

She found him heading up the stairs on the second floor.

"Hey, where's Anna?" She asked, as she walked by his side towards the common room. "You're normally glued at the hip!"

"She and Dom have gone to hand all their books back into the library, and I don't have any books." Fred shrugged. "How are you?"

Roxy smiled, before taking Jamie's hand.

"I need to tell you something."  
"I cannot handle another pregnancy." Fred replied, his face straight. He glanced over Roxy's shoulder at Jamie before bursting into laughter.

"Ha ha, very funny." Roxy smirked.

"You didn't see his face!" Fred replied, still laughing. "Anyway, seriously, what were you going to tell me?"  
Roxanne sighed. "I'm moving in with Jamie."  
"In Ravenclaw?"

"No, I mean when we leave school."

Fred stopped walking.

"What?"  
"I-I'm moving in with Jamie when school's over."

For a few moments, Fred's expression was unreadable, then he smiled widely. "That's great news!" He said, before pulling Roxy into a hug. "Thanks for warning me." He said quietly into her ear.

"No problem." She smiled.

The two of them broke apart, and continued on their journey. Roxy stayed silent while Fred listed all the things he would do to hurt Jamie if he ever let Roxy come to any harm. She knew she could protest, but really that would just give Fred more time to think of more dangerous threats; it was better that he just got it out of his system now.

By the time they reached the portrait hole, though, Roxy and Jamie were both struggling to keep a straight face as Fred's threats became more ridiculous.

"I won't hurt her." Jamie said finally, as the three of them stopped by the portrait of the fat lady.

"Oh, okay then." Fred nodded. "Thanks, mate."

Jamie turned and kissed Roxy goodbye, before he left to his own common room.

"Ah, look, it's the second Weasley twins!" The fat lady smiled. "You two will be leaving soon as well, won't you?"  
Roxy and Fred just nodded; it was well known that when the fat lady wanted to talk, she should just be left to it so she would shut up sooner.

"Well, that's a shame, it was nice to have some twins around again. Not that anyone could ever replace your father and his twin, that is. I still remember the Battle of Hogwarts as if it was yesterday; so many wonderful paintings were ripped to shreds that day. Of course, it was a tragic day, but I've always thought that the biggest loss was George Weasley-"

Roxy blinked, pulling a face at her brother. "Our Dad didn't die, Fred did."

The fat lady looked completely confused. "Are you sure?"  
"Yes."

The confusion stayed. "But your mother; she's Angelina Johnston, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is, but look can we just get inside now-?" Fred asked, and Roxy turned to see that his expression was a little panicked.

This time, Roxy was the confused one.

"Yeah, our mother's Angelina. What difference would that make?"

"Angelina and George?" The portrait questioned. "But Angelina used to date Fred Weasley, not George."

Roxy couldn't do anything but ask the portrait to repeat herself. "What?"  
"Don't ever question me on my gossip, dear, you're not a painting for hundreds of years without knowing who's sneaking off where, and with who. Angelina and Fred were the 'it couple' of their year; Fred asked her to the Yule Ball just in front of me. I wouldn't say they were inseparable, after all Fred was always with George, but they certainly had their fair share of late nights in the room of requirement, let me tell you! Oh, and then Fred and George flew out of school, literally, and Angelina moped around pretty heartbrokenly for the rest of the year, which was quite out of character for her…"

Roxy had stopped listening. She wanted to cover her ears up, because she was sure she would throw up if she heard another word. She desperately wanted not to believe what the portrait was saying, especially since it was a painting and logic dictated that you shouldn't have a life changing conversation with a painting, but somehow it just made _sense. _

Why, then, were her parents together? Did they even want her? Were they cheating on Fred together? Was that why George didn't like to talk about Fred?

She turned to look at her brother, wondering if he could feel his stomach dropping as well; she wondered if his world was falling to pieces too.

He didn't look surprised though. He was just watching her, shaking his head and biting his lip. It was almost as if-

"You already know, don't you?" She asked, realisation dawning horribly. He knew. That was why he'd been so weird lately; he knew the truth.

"Rox-" He replied, his words catching in his throat.

"Do they even love each other? Do they even love us?"  
"Roxy, it's not that simple-"  
"How could you not tell me?" She demanded, before turning and storming away. Where, she had no idea, but she couldn't look at her brother anymore.

No secrets.

That's what they'd promised last year, the same time they'd promised to warn the other if they were leaving. Now, though, Roxy couldn't wait to get away.

…

It had been five days, yet the gossiping about Lily's brother still hadn't died down. Thankfully, there had been no articles in the paper about them, but everyone in the school knew and that was bad enough.

Lily herself had hardly seen her brother all week; they were both busy with exams, and Al spent his remaining time locked away in his room. Lily hadn't seen Rose or Scorpius either; the two of them were avoiding each other and that meant avoiding everyone else as well.

Lily kind of appreciated the drama, though, as much as she hated what her brother had done. It meant that she was distracted from Jake.

For all their promises to each other, they had not spoken to each other since they broke up before the exams. Jake and Louis had pretty much stopped talking to the rest of the family; Hugo seemed to be the owl between the Weasleys and Louis. It kind of hurt. It wasn't that she was hurt that she and Jake had broken up, she was hurt that he seemed to have let her go so easily.

Now exams were over, the common room had returned to it's loud and busy self. Everyone was celebrating that they were free again, especially the seventh years, who seemed to have scattered themselves to other houses' parties. There was only a week of school left now; Lily wasn't sure she was ready to leave.

"Weird, isn't it? This is what it's going to be like when we're the oldest." Hugo remarked, as only he and Lily were sat in Weasley corner.

"That's not for years though." She reasoned.

"One day." He shrugged.

Lily nodded, turning her head to look at the rest of Gryffindor.

And then she noticed that there was a large crowd around Laura.

Now, as much as she hated what Al had done, she was getting fed up with Laura milking it for all it was worth.

The people around her laughed, and Lily felt anger bubble inside her.

"Ignore it." Hugo shrugged.

"No, I don't want to." Lily complained. She must have been loud, because the common room quietened down and Laura smirked at her through the gap in the crowd.

"In fact," Laura stood slowly on the table she was sat on. "I wondered if anyone wanted to read the story from the prophet that didn't get published."

Lily stood too, glaring at Laura, who smirked back. With the exception of Hugo, Lily was on her own, and Laura knew it.

"It must be so nice, to be able to just send Mummy and Daddy to shut people up, mustn't it?"

Lily didn't know why she was doing it, but she walked towards Laura, walking past the many people who were a lot older and taller than her, and held her hand out.

"Would you like to read, Lily?" Laura asked, patronisingly. "Proud of your big brother, are you?"

Lily snatched the piece of paper from her hands, not even glancing at the word on the parchment before she ripped the paper into shreds. Hugo had followed her, and Lily threw the scraps at him, which he stuffed into his pockets.

"You can't do that; that's my private property!"  
"If it's not good enough for the prophet, then it's not good enough for in here."  
"You mean if it's not good enough for your family."  
The entire common room went silent; Lily was sure she heard one or two people make soft "ooh" sounds.

Lily smiled, fakely. "You used to be so lovely, Laura. What happened?"

"Your brother was a lot nicer to me than you're being."

"Maybe you guys should talk upstairs or something-" Hugo attempted to mediate, as the common room stayed mystified by the conversation.

"No, anything she has to say she can say in front of everyone else." Laura smirked.

Lily took another step forward. "Listen, Laura, there's a reason why there's a reason why my family are so close. We're survivors, we're fighters. Hurt one of us, you hurt all of us."

Laura stepped down from the table; she still towered over Lily, but Lily blamed her heels.

"Sweetie," Her smile had fallen, and Lily felt Hugo step closer to her, but was careful not to flinch. "Your family wouldn't touch me. I'm sorry that you've found out that your brother is a cheat, but don't take that out on me. I just think everyone should know the truth about Al, or maybe about all of the Potters."

Lily shook her head; the rest of the common room seemed to be waiting for what she said next. She could feel her heart beating, almost in her mouth.

"My brothers; they wouldn't hurt a girl." She began by agreeing, before narrowing her eyes. " I would. I would gladly hurt you; Roxy, Dom, Louisa, Anna, Rose and I could really do some damage. So stay away from my family. All you are is some jealous little slut. So my brother slept with you; big deal, he was drunk. He would have slept with Moaning Myrtle if she was as desperate as you were. You're nothing but a horrible mistake. And if you keep on trying to remind us of it, then don't worry; I'm sure my cousins and I can find a way to make sure you regret it. Stay away from my family, do you understand?"

She walked back to her seat on the sofa, before Laura had a chance to reply, since she could practically here the cogs in the other girl's brain clicking.

"Um, Lily, what just happened?" Hugo asked, as the common room filled with commotion again.

"I made sure she stayed away from us."  
"But… Lily, you were angry. Like, I've never seen you like that, you were-"  
"Fiesty. You were feisty."

Lily turned, to see Jacob Spencer standing behind her, his arms folded and eyebrows raised. She thought of asking how a Hufflepuff had possibly gotten into her common room, before she saw that there were quite a few fifth years from different houses around; there was clearly some sort of party. Then she wondered why he was talking to her; he was the guy in the year above that everyone wanted. He was almost Louis' competition; the two boys notoriously didn't get on.

Lily thought Louis and Jacob were very similar; maybe that was why they were so competitive. They were both blonde; Jacob's was more of a dirty blonde than Louis'. Jacob was more tanned, maybe even overall more good looking, but Louis was a Weasley, which brought them onto even ground.

"You definitely gave her what for." He continued, his voice much more Southern than Lily and her family's.  
"Sorry, my cousin and I were having a private conversation." Hugo said, his eyes narrowing; he was loyal to Louis.

Lily just turned, glancing between both Jacob and Hugo without anything to say.

And then the situation got worse.

Jake and Louis walked towards them; Jake sat down on a sofa nearby while Louis stood behind Hugo with his arms crossed.

"Lily, what just happened?" Louis asked. "I can't believe you said all of that stuff; I didn't know you could even be that scary!"  
"I-I-" Lily had no reply. What had she just done? What if she'd just ruined everything? What if it got round that Lily had threatened Laura; what if Lily got in trouble? What had she done?

"Hey, listen, I don't mean to interrupt," Jacob tapped her on the shoulder, and Lily snapped out of her thoughts and turned, while Jake, Louis and Hugo looked up at the Hufflepuff and glared. "But me and some of the guys are going to a party in Hufflepuff, and I wondered if you'd like to join us?"

"Spencer, leave her alone." Louis said simply.

Jacob just smirked. "Listen, Potter, I'll be in that corner for a little while, so if you decide you want to come that'd be really cool." He smiled; the kind of smile that would make Lily's grandmother melt. The kind of smile that made Louis crack his knuckles.

"Lily, stay away from him, he's bad news." Hugo advised.

Lily didn't know if she was still angry from Laura, but that annoyed her. Hugo was only a few months older than her; what gave him the right to look after her?

"You're just jealous you're not invited." She replied.

"Lily, he only invited you because you had a go at Laura."  
"What?"

Louis shrugged. "People seem to think it made you seem grown up. A few of the guys thought it was attractive, I don't know."  
"Really?"  
"Well, I don't see it but-"  
"I should hope you don't." Jake joked weakly.

Lily realised that was the first time in weeks that she'd heard his voice. He seemed to know too, because he glanced up at her apologetically, before returning to twisting his thumbs.

"Maybe I will go to that party, actually." She said, knowing how similar she sounded to her mother when she was being stubborn. Part of her just wanted a reaction out of Jake again; she was happy when he wasn't ignoring her anymore, even if he did look so upset. "It might be fun."

"No, Lily, you can't."

"You can't tell me what to do." Lily replied to Louis.

"He's only inviting you because of what you did!"  
"Yeah, so?"  
"That wasn't you." Jake explained simply, Louis and Hugo snapping their mouths shut. "I know you Lily; you couldn't say all those things."  
She shrugged. "Maybe you don't know me anymore."

Then she stood up, and walked away, towards Jacob who, along with his friends, smiled at her.

"Lily, you can't do this; what about Jake?" Hugo chased after her, turning her around by putting his hand on her shoulder.

"What about Jake, Hugo?"  
"You can't do that to him, you can't just leave him like that-"  
"Why? He's nothing to do with me anymore."  
Then she turned away from her cousin, as well. It dawned on her that the tables had turned. At the beginning of the year, she followed Hugo around like a puppy; now he wouldn't leave her side.

"The last Potter's finally partying!" Jacob said, when she was close enough. He put his hand around her shoulder, and steered her towards the portrait hole.

She might not be being herself, Lily thought, but it seemed people liked her far more now. So maybe it didn't matter who she was, it just mattered who other people thought she was. Maybe she had to become that girl.

At least that way, Jake wouldn't claim to know her anymore.


	76. Is It Over Yet?

Hey guys! Harry Potter in 10 days! I can't believe it! :D :D I'm even going down to London for the premiere tomorrow! :)

But anyway, that's not the point. The point is, this new chapter. But first, thanks to all my readers, alerters, favouriters and reviewers etc. 11 more alerts to 400! How crazy! Anonymous reviewers: _sarahelizabeth2014 _(Thanks so much for liking the story, no it's not over!), _Lorrry _(Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like the Joxy but I'm sorry about Fred. As for Lily, yeah I'm proud of her too!), _rednose _(I agree with your advice to Lily! Thanks so much for the review!), _Wenwei _(I'm glad you like the story; it's really nice of you to review. I agree, Al should get over himself!), _Purpleflower23 _(Aha I love that you called it the dark side! Thanks for the review!), _Sophia _(I love Roxy and Jamie too! :D) and _HPfanatic _(Thanks for reading it all; I know it's long so thanks for the review!). Hopefully the rest of you got replies!

To all of you who have asked to see what my characters look like, please go on my profile where I've posted links. Tell me what you think, guys! :) I've done all the ones that immediately come to mind but if there are any others you want then just ask! :D

Sorry about this chapter, guys, it isn't my best work, but I hope it'll still be good! :) The next chapter will be posted ASAP (I want to get on with the sequel now!), but I'm on holiday for a fortnight and then doing work experience again… Crazy!

**_Disclaimer: _**_I don't own Harry Potter but right now I don't even care because It All Ends on 15.7.11!_

* * *

_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventy Six- ****Is It Over Yet?****)**

"Fred, get dressed; we're going to a party!" James shouted, running into the dorm and straight into the bathroom.

Fred groaned, wondering what James would do if Fred just ignored him. That was until a weight fell onto the end of his bed, and he was forced to turn over and look up at his girlfriend.

"Come on, you must be feeling better by now." Anna sighed, leaning towards him and brushing his hair off his face. "I miss you; we only have three days left in school!"

Fred felt guilty; he'd spent the last four days claiming he was ill and holing up in his room, all to avoid Roxy. He didn't know much about what had been going on without him; he assumed nothing much had changed. He knew that the Al drama hadn't faded, Rose and Scorpius still weren't talking, James and Louisa were still being all romantic… Fred didn't care much.

All he really cared about right now was his sister. And he'd managed to hurt her far more than he would ever want to.

He let his eyes catch Anna's, and she looked down worriedly in reply. She didn't deserve any of this.

"What party?" He asked.  
"Sixth and seventh years, mostly, just getting ready to say goodbye. Come on, it'll be good!"

Fred shrugged; at a busy party he could probably avoid Roxy for the entire time. He knew it was the coward's way out, but he couldn't face her after what he'd done. He couldn't try and explain, after he'd done such a crap job of it by the portrait hole.

"Yeah, okay, sounds good." He decided, sitting up properly and smiling.

Anna squealed, leaning forward and kissing Fred briefly. "Yay! James he's coming!" She yelled, and James cheered from the bathroom, sticking his head out of the door with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.

"I'm glad you're better, mate." James smiled. "You couldn't spend the end of your school career locked away up here."  
"Yeah, I was getting fed up of being up here." He lied in reply.  
"Right, so you two get ready, and I'll meet you outside the Ravenclaw common room…"

There was no way Fred could avoid Jamie and Roxy if they were in Ravenclaw; Jamie was probably the host. He sat back down, pretending to cough.

"On second thoughts, I don't think I'm quite up to it. You two go without me-"

Anna just crossed her arms. "Fred, what happened with Jamie?"

"W-what?"  
"You're avoiding him. You just proved it. Why? What did he do?"

"Yeah, mate, do I need to hurt him?" James asked, joining the conversation and sitting on his own bed. "Because we've only got three days left to get him if we really need to-"  
"No, Jamie's not done anything." Fred shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it."  
"Fred, there's only so long I can put up with you pretending to be ill before I get the truth out of you." Anna said sternly.

Fred just squirmed, running his hands through his hair. "I… I just messed up."

"With who? Jamie?"

Fred shook his head. "Roxy."

James sighed; Fred knew that he understood more than Anna ever could. He'd grown up with Roxy and Fred; he knew how close they really were. Like all of the family, he knew they bickered, but he also knew they never fell out for long.

"What did you do?" He asked quietly, the jokey look on his face having vanished.

And then Fred realised that there was no reason not to tell them anymore; the one person he was trying to protect already knew, who cared about everyone else?

So he looked up, straight at James, as Anna put her arms around his shoulders.

"I found out some bad things about our family." James looked worried, so Fred added "about our parents." He sighed, forcing himself to carry on. "Mum used to date Fred, not my Dad. My Mum and Dad kind of turned to each other when he died, and they didn't plan to stay together. When Dad found out that Anna might be pregnant he wrote to me, and he told me that Roxy and I were mistakes, entirely."

James was shaking his head, while Anna was breathing heavily on Fred's shoulder.

"When Dad came for Memorial Day, we talked about it, and I promised not to tell Rox. We didn't see what good it would do if she knew; we were trying to protect her." Fred found that it was hard to talk about it out loud; it was hard to explain, and it just sounded to him like he was the worst brother in the world. "But then she found out on the last day of exams. And she knows I know, and now she hates me."

"How did she find out?" James asked.

"The bloody Fat Lady told her. She started going on about Fred and Angelina and it was horrible for me to hear, but Rox… She just looked devastated." It echoed in his ears, how much he'd hurt her. It was hard to breathe anymore; it was hard not to cry. "I hurt her so much-"  
"You didn't mean to-"  
"That's not what matters. It happened, and she'll never forgive me-"  
"She will-"  
"Well I won't forgive myself, then." He snapped a little. He didn't want fake hope, and he didn't want sympathy. They asked, so he told them, but he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

They seemed to know it, though, because James just stared ahead, and Anna just rested her head on his shoulder.

Then Fred realised that the silence was worse than them trying to help.

"What should I do?" He asked, sounding irritatingly desperate.

"Well, speaking to her would be a start." James joked, and the three of them laughed weakly.

Anna stood after a moment or two, reaching her hands out to him. "You should come to the party, and find her. Apologise; tell her everything you just told us. She'll understand."

Fred just nodded, and took Anna's hand. Without a word, the two of them moved closer to each other, until her head was resting on his chest and she was gripping shirt tightly.

"I'm so sorry about your parents." She mumbled into his chest.

Fred just sighed, kissing the top of her head.

"I promise I'll help you fix things with Roxy." She said, as she leant back from him and looked up. "But I need to talk to you afterwards."  
"That sounds ominous." Fred joked, worriedly.

He didn't feel any better when Anna just sighed, and walked towards the door. "Meet me in the common room in twenty minutes, okay?"  
Then she opened the door and left, and Fred just stared after her.

Fred wondered if the entire world was out to get him. He turned and looked at James, who just looked awkward. He stood, and walked towards Fred.

"I'm sorry things aren't going so well, Fred." He said simply, clearly unable to think of anything else to say.

Yet somehow, it was perfect. It was all Fred needed from his best friend; support.

"Thanks J," He said simply. "Guess we've got a party to get ready for, then?"

"Oh god, what shall I wear?" James joked. Fred laughed, properly, and then the two boys turned to get dressed.

It was hours later that Fred finally got the guts to speak to his sister, while the other teenagers laughed and yelled around him.

Roxy had been sat in the corner with Jamie all night; Fred had been watching all night, waiting for a moment when she was free. Somehow, he just didn't want to talk to her with Jamie around; he was scared he would end up on the floor. That moment finally came when a Ravenclaw fell down the stairs, and someone asked Jamie to help take him to his dorm. Fred felt himself jump up, and he almost sped towards her.

"Rox, can I talk to you?"

She looked up, and blinked a couple of times. "Four days later? Wow, Fred, I'm glad I'm so important to you-"  
"Roxy, please." He glanced around, looking for somewhere quiet. "Come outside for like ten minutes?" She shifted in her chair. "You can yell at me all you want out there." He tried, smiling a little.

This seemed to sway her, and she stood up and headed towards the door silently. They left the common room, walked down the spiral staircase onto a corridor that was lined with coupled up, fighting or whispering teenagers.

Roxy, unlike Fred, was wearing a jacket with a hood, so when she walked down the stairs and out of the nearest door, into the light rain, she didn't get damp. Fred did, and part of him wondered if Roxy had done it deliberately.

"So, what have you got to say? Make it quick, there's a party upstairs."

She folded her arms, and Fred struggled to think of words. He just looked at her, blinking and wondering if she was actually okay with it all. She didn't look like she was suffering; she'd even straightened her hair and put on her makeup…

"You know what, Fred, never mind." She started to head towards the door, but Fred blocked her.

"No, sis, wait," he sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just promised that I wouldn't-"  
"Promised who?"  
"Dad."

She shook her head. "Why would he make you lie to me? What even happened, how do you know all of this?"

So he told her everything, from the letter to Memorial Day, to his promises to protect her and how much he'd hated himself for it.

Most of it, she listened to easily. She'd flinched a little when he said they were mistakes, and she'd complained that she could take of herself when he'd told her of his conversation with his father, but for most of the time she just stayed quiet.

"I am so sorry that you had to find out like that, Rox. I swear I would have told you if I thought it would make a difference-"  
"Of course it makes a difference, Fred! Our parents don't want us, how can you be okay with that?"  
After staying calm for so long, Fred finally snapped. "You think I'm okay with it? Roxy, I have not been okay with this from the second I found out. From the second I read that damn letter and ripped it to shreds, I have hated it all! Everything we grew up with was a lie, Rox! Our parents wouldn't be together if we didn't exist, I don't even know if they love each other now-"  
He was cut off then, since Roxy threw herself towards him and wrapped her arms around his stomach. He didn't even realise there had been tears in his eyes until then.

"I'm just sorry, Rox, I'm so sorry." He whispered over her head.

"I'm sorry too, Fred." She mumbled back into his shirt, her tears soaking through the fabric. "I'm sorry I didn't think about how much it would have hurt you…"

She mumbled away, rambling about their parents and their childhood while Fred just nodded.

"We'll be okay." She eventually said, stopping talking and looking up to him. "I mean, if we want to talk to them then we can, but if we want to just leave it we can; we'll do it together."

"Yeah, together." He agreed, unable to care about any other word she had said.

The two of them stood there, silently, a little while longer, before it dawned on Fred that he was freezing cold and soaking wet.

"Let's go drink our sorrows away." Roxy joked, before turning back inside.

Fred laughed and followed. "Yet more proof that we're related!"

When they went back into the Ravenclaw common room, the two of them grabbed the nearest drinks and returned to partying.

And Fred spent the rest of the night like that, his mind a funny mixture of alcohol, parental problems, and happiness that he had his sister back. He thought of no other things; it was as if they were the only things to consider in the world.

Until Anna walked up to him, pulled his arm, and dragged him out of the common room and into a stairwell.

"Anna, what-?"  
"I'm sorry, look, I said I needed to talk to you earlier and I still do-"  
"Well maybe tomorrow, when we're sober-"  
"No, Fred, I have to do this now!"

He would be worried, but the alcohol in his blood just made the hallway spin, and it took all of his concentration to stay vertical.

"Fred, I'm moving to Australia. Dad got me a place on a Quidditch team there and I'm moving next month."

Fred laughed.

"Good one! That's really funny, shall I get you a drink-?"  
"No. Seriously, Fred," She put her hands on his shoulders, steadying him. He didn't have to concentrate on standing now; he could only listen to her. And her words seemed to echo and made him want to be sick… "I've been trying to think of how to tell you, Fred. I'm leaving."

He shook his head. "You're not. You're not, you can't go anywhere, Anna, because you're not meant to leave me! We're the ones who are meant to stay together forever; you're not meant to go to the other side of the world-"  
"Fred I'm sorry! I-I love you-"  
"Yeah, not enough to stay."

He stormed away, Anna yelling after him over the crowd. He ran, though, through the common room and into the room of requirement, where his bedroom at home surrounded him and he threw himself onto the bed.

Nothing ever worked out. Nothing ever would.

Now he was out of his Hogwarts world, he was in the real world. He had to be all grown up and have real problems.

And it all sucked.

…

Rose wasn't going to admit it out loud, but she was lonely. Not that she'd have anyone to admit it out loud to…

She was wishing she'd gone to the party now, when earlier she had impatiently refused Maddie's begs to go with her. She wished she was in the Ravenclaw common room, dressed up and dancing or drinking the night away.

More than wishing she was at the party, though, she wished she was curled up with Scorpius on the sofa, not on her own. She hated that he had gone to the party; she wished she'd gone too and he'd watched her dancing with other guys… Then he'd get jealous, storm over to her, and they'd argue but make up after realising they were wasting the little time they had left before the holidays…

She wished she could stop being so stubborn. She wished he'd come up to her and apologise, but they were too similar in that they wouldn't be the first to give in…

She was scared he'd given up on them.

Because what if he had? What if he was going to the party for the same reason Maddie was; to prove that he was free and single again? Even though they hadn't broken up officially, what if Scorpius had just decided that they were over without telling her? He was clever, sure, but sometimes he got too wrapped up in the details until he just got angry and quit.  
She was scared he'd quit them…

It was only midnight; no one would be back to Gryffindor for a couple of hours, if any of them even bothered to go back to bed. She could curl up here for as long as she liked, if she wanted. Or she could go to bed.

But a little part of her told her to stay here, downstairs, where people could see her. Where Scorpius could see her and feel guilty when he fell through the portrait hole and woke her up. Then he would apologise, for that and everything else, and it would all be okay…

She was going to stay down here, alone, just in case.

Rose had never been one of those people who could enjoy being alone. She pretended she was, because it made her seem independent, but the truth was that she hated when she was alone with her thoughts. She hated when she couldn't hear anyone else's voice, only her own breathing. It was because she came from a big family, and when she was little she'd never been alone; she'd grown up that way. It was one of the things she hated about herself, though, because she knew that as a person, you had to be on your own sometimes.

She got by, though; she imagined little stories in her head and lost herself in her make-belief world. Or, she just remembered Scorpius. She found that her imaginary, perfect life, and what she had with Scorpius blurred a lot of the time.

It was about quarter to one when Rose was slammed back into the real world with the slam of the portrait hole. Dom walked in, dragging Albus behind her.

"I thought I'd bring him back, before he had sex with someone else he'd regret." She explained, practically throwing him onto the sofa. Rose laughed weakly, smiling kindly at her cousin who sat next to her.

"Shut up," Al mumbled, his face in the pillow. "I'm not that bad. I still wouldn't sleep with you."

Rose laughed, while Dom just rolled her eyes. "You have no idea how thankful I am of that."  
While Al grumbled, Rose turned to look at Dom.

Somehow, the blonde girl in front of her seemed far more human than she ever had before. Nowadays, Dominique made much more sense since Rose learnt the truth. Because the truth was that Dom wasn't some cold, calculating, uncaring pretty girl, who was incapable of love; she was all too capable of love. And she'd fallen in love with the wrong person.

Rose knew all about falling in love with the wrong person, except it had worked out for her. When she tried to put herself in Dom's position, though, and imagine how she would feel if she and Scorpius hadn't ended up together… She understood everything Dom had become.

"You know, I don't think I should drink, really." Al complained a few moments later. "I seem to just mess everything up."  
"You do, Al, that's true." Dom replied, before standing, as Al swung his legs off the side of the sofa and lost his balance. "Rose, is it okay if I leave him with you and go check on Anna. Last time I saw her, she was drinking far too much, so-"  
"No, you can't leave me with Rose!" Al complained loudly. "She hates me!"

Rose just shrugged, telling Dom it was fine, before crossing her arms and watching Al.

"You really do hate me, don't you?" Al asked after a while.

Rose shook her head, but Al was busy looking at the floor so he didn't see.

"Well, it doesn't matter, because I hate myself more than you ever could. I ruined everything."  
"Yeah, you did, actually."

Al turned to look at her, before asking "Do you want to know something?"  
"What?"  
"I know what I did to Maddie was horrible, and I really hate myself for it but… But I feel worse for what I did to you and Scorpius."

Rose nodded a little, as he looked up and his eyes met hers.

"I can't believe I ruined you two-"  
"You think we're ruined? Does he think we're ruined?"

"I wouldn't know; he won't talk to me anymore." He sighed. "But you both hate me. And you're both unhappy, and I hate that it's my fault."  
"You know, when you're not cheating on people, you talk a lot of sense when you're drunk."  
"It's because I mean it. I am sorry, Rose. So, so sorry. I'm going to fix it all, I promise."

"How?"  
"I don't know, I'll think about that in the morning." He turned and flopped back on the sofa, before sighing. "I think I'll just sleep here, so I won't wake up Scorpius, but I'm scared someone might curse me while I'm here-"  
"Scorpius isn't at the party?" She asked, not caring about another word he'd said.

Because somehow, talking to Al had made her realise that this was almost entirely because of him. It was nothing to do with the two of them; there was no reason for her and Scorpius to carry on the way they were. It was a choice between being miserable alone, or happy together. She didn't know what she'd even been thinking before...

"No, he wouldn't go. He's just wallowing up there, I guess-"

Rose shot up from her seat on the sofa, and headed to the stairs. She didn't care if she had to be the bigger person. She just wanted to be happy again.

"What are you doing-? Wait, no, never mind; I'm not getting involved with the two of you again…"

Rose was pretty sure she could hear Al's snores echoing up the stairwell by the time she opened Scorp's dorm door.

The lights were off and the curtains were drawn, but there was a faint light from inside the drapes of Scorpius' bed.

She shut the door quietly behind her, but Scorpius didn't react. Rose knew he must think it was Al, until she spoke quietly.  
"Scorp?"

"Rose?"

He moved so fast that the bed creaked, and Rose thought the drapes would rip away from around the bed since he pulled them back so quickly.

And then she could see him again. And it took all she had not to run into his arms there and then. Because he looked just like she loved to remember him; like he'd looked every evening in Malfoy Manor. His hair was messed up, his pyjama bottoms hung just below his hip bones and his shirt was just tight enough that her heart raced a little.

But first, she knew she had to say that she was-

"I'm sorry." He said simply. "I'm so, so sorry-"  
"I'm sorry too." She replied, easily.

Then the two of them were sort of pulled together like magnets, his arms wrapping around her waist while she breathed him in.

They knew they didn't need to speak about it. It was as if they were apologising without speaking, just by holding each other and listen to the other's heart beats.

How long they stayed there, Rose would never be able to say. It could have been hours, easily. It felt like hours, until Scorpius kissed the top of her head, and whispered "I missed you."

"I missed you too, so much."

His arms tightened around her.

"I love you." He sighed, and she just nodded.

Tears had appeared in her eyes, since she'd waited for this for so long, and never wanted to be anywhere else again.

Finally, he kissed her. It was as if her heart had been aching for it, because she was sure that they'd never kissed as needily as that before. Her hands seemed to grab at his shirt a little tighter, while his hands twisted in her hair almost painfully.

In the next few hours, Rose learnt what she considered an important lesson; making up almost made arguing completely worth it.


	77. So Close

DUN DUN DUN… Guys, this is the penultimate chapter! And I literally cried while I was writing it so heaven knows what I'll do when I write the last one. Have said that… Sequel soon. Oh guys, you best follow this story over there because I swear it will be epic. I'll reveal the title next chapter, but you're going to have to author alert me aswell in case I change my mind! :D :P

So, new Harry Potter film… thoughts? :P My friend and I plan to see it in the cinema seven times. :) I camped out in Trafalgar square for the premiere aswell; it was amazing.

As always thanks to all you reviewers, alerters, favouriters etc. etc… 4 more favourites and one more alert to 400! I dare some of you anonymous reviewers to make accounts and favourite me! Anonymous reviews: _HappyTrekkie _(Thanks so much for reading the whole thing; I will sort out the pictures so there are pictures of everyone needed for the sequel, but I won't have time before then. Thanks again for reading!), _Purpleflower23 _(Nope, I'm still here don't worry! But yeah, I'm glad you liked the chapter aswell!), _SummerSellers _(I can't believe you read it all; that's amazing. I'm sorry you hate James and Lou though! :( And I'll try and find someone to replace Maddie, don't worry. Thanks for the review), _tiffany23 _(I agree about Fred and Anna, and thanks for the review!), _Secret1234 _(I'm glad you liked the chapter and I agree about Fred! Thanks for the review!), _HPfanatic _(I'm glad you like the chapter, and aha, there's always drama in my story and unfortunately Fred is included in that! Thanks for the review!), _Lorrry_ (Ahaha, Franna! That's amazing! I agree about Maddie though! Thanks for reviewing, don't worry that it's short!), _rednose _(Thanks for the review; I agree that I'm glad they're reunited.), _Vanillaberries _(Enable PMing! Then I can reply properly! But thanks for the review it's brilliant! :D), _Ninjess _(Thanks for all the reviews; I love the use of the word Duck!) and _sarahelizabeth2014 _(Thanks so much for your review; it was lovely!).

Hope you like this chapter guys!  
Now, before I let you read it, I was wondering; do you remember when I asked you all questions? Well I thought I'd do that again, so…  
a) Favourite character?  
b) Least favourite character?  
c) Favourite couple?  
d) Least favourite couple?  
e) Character that your opinion has most changed on since the beginning of the story?  
f) Couple that you opinion has most changed on since the story?  
g) Favourite chapter of the story (so far…)?  
h) (For those that I can pm) If you could ask me anything, what would it be? (Relevant to the story though…:P)

Sorry about the long AN!

**_Disclaimer: _**_I know why Voldemort's nose is flat; he ran into the wrong platform. However, just because I know this doesn't mean Harry Potter is mine! _

* * *

**_The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
_****(Chapter Seventy Seven- So Close)**

James was sure that someone had sped up time. He was sure someone, somewhere, had accidentally done a spell wrong and now they were all working at double, or even triple, speed. Because there was no way the last day of school had arrived. There was no way that he was going to be getting on the Hogwarts express for the last time tomorrow. There was no way that he was leaving Hogwarts. Not tomorrow…

But he was. And today, this evening, he was going to have his last ever end-of-term feast at Hogwarts. And he was sure that he wouldn't be able to do it.

The end of his time at Hogwarts felt like it would be the end of everything he knew. He didn't have to deny it; he was terrified of everything in the real world. He preferred Hogwarts to reality. He was terrified of just being a Potter again. He wanted to be James.

It brought him some comfort that he wasn't the only one who felt this way. Roxy and Dominique were exactly the same; they almost flinched every time they heard their surnames. James was sure Fred would behave in the same manner, if it weren't for Anna's plans to leave.

That was another thing James was scared of; just how much everything was going to change in the real world. He worried they'd drift apart. He knew what they planned, and he knew what they said, but in his heart he doubted that he, his cousins, Louisa, Anna and Jamie would still be close this time next year, no matter how much he wanted it.

The common room was eerily quiet; most people had gone upstairs to pack, but James couldn't bring himself to empty his room. He was sat almost entirely alone; one or two third years were sat in the corner planning their Summer, and James was just jealous of how young they were. He wanted to shout at them not to waste their time, because it didn't last. Everyone grew up and they grew up too fast.

He was at the point where he was counting down how many hours he had left in this school; how many hours he had left of his childhood… He had 23. And those 23 hours were going quicker than he'd ever imagined they could.

The portrait hole slammed, and James' head automatically snapped in that direction.

"Sorry James." Anna said quietly, before continuing towards the stairs. James, however, stood up and turned to her.

"How are you?" he asked quietly.

She sighed, turning back to him.

James had always got on with Anna, but never in more of a team-mate or best-friend's-girlfriend way. He wasn't even sure he'd consider the two of them friends, since they'd never really chatted alone together.

So he wasn't used to the look on her face; the look that said she just wanted to talk.

"He won't talk to me." She sighed. "I'm trying but he won't let me explain-"  
"He's angry. You're leaving him."

She shook her head. "I… I'm not though. I want to talk to him about it; I want to explain how this could work-"  
"You mean him following you to Australia? It's not fair to ask that of him; it's not fair to even suggest it." Somehow, James found that he was very possessive of his best friend. He didn't care how much Anna loved him; she wasn't going to take him away to the other side of the world. Because then James would lose everything he knew; Fred was the only person he could really count on to keep in touch.

"I just want to work it out, James, I don't want to lose him-"  
"Then don't go."

She blinked back, biting her lip and nodding.

"Fine." She said quietly. "If I tell him I'm not going, will he talk to me again?"  
"Anna-"  
"No, if I stay, does that mean I won't lose him?"  
"I-"  
"Because I would, James. I'd give it all up for him, if he wanted me to. I just want to explain that to him. He comes first, if he wants to. I'll choose him over Quidditch, and give up all my dreams for him. I'd do that if he wanted me to."

And then James saw that he and Fred were wrong; Anna hadn't already made up her mind. She wasn't leaving him and she wasn't forcing him to go with her either. She wanted to discuss her decision with him; just like grown-ups do.

"I can't make him listen to you." he said simply. "But I understand." Then he headed upstairs, and motioned for her to follow him. She did so, smiling gratefully.

Fred could be heard from outside their dorm; he was whining as he packed his clothes and belongings away.

"James! Oh, there you are, right, do you want to keep the Quidditch diagrams or can I have them?"

The room was chaos; Fred had cleared out underneath their beds, territory which hadn't been ventured into since the beginning of first year.

"You can have them, I guess." James replied, waiting for Fred to look up and see who was behind him.

"Right, well I'll have those and you can have our notes from third year Divination, god that was funny…" Then he looked up, and James and Anna both inhaled nervously at the same time. "What are you doing here?"

"Fred, I invited her up; you two really need to talk about this-"  
"I don't want to talk, James, she's leaving-"  
"No, I'm not," Anna replied quietly. "Not if you don't want me to; I can stay here with you."

Fred sighed. "I just… I'm fed up of all these serious conversations. We've got one day left in this place, and I don't want to ruin it by thinking about the future." Even James nodded, understandingly. "I don't know what I want from you, Anna, but I know I don't want you to give anything up for me. I just don't know what I want to do about it. But can we please just not talk about it until after we finish school and we're back home?"

"Fred, we have to talk about this, we can't put it off-"  
"For two days, we can put it off. It's two days." Anna nodded; James stepped out of the way to let her get closer to Fred, but he was the one who walked towards her. "Besides, wouldn't you rather behave like children than adults while we're still in school? We can be as grown up as you like in the real world."

James felt it was the proper time to duck out of his dorm room, and leave Anna and Fred to make up in their own way. On his way out he collected a pile of books that James and Fred had had for years, and then returned them to the library. Then he wandered to the kitchens, grabbed some food from the house-elves, some of whom clung to his feet when they realised he was leaving, before he left them to get the feast ready. Then he just wandered through the corridors for a while, looking around and thinking of everything he was going to miss. He knew he must have looked completely insane, because every now and again he would sigh wistfully and a few of the young girls who were following him would pull confused faces at each other.

He found himself standing outside the seventh year library, knowing that he hadn't been in there since Louisa confessed she cheated on him. He found himself pushing the door open, but not knowing why.

Then he saw why; Louisa was sat on the floor, books surrounding her. She was flicking through one absentmindly, smiling to herself.

"Hey." He said quietly, smirking before he walked towards her.

She looked up, "How did you-"  
"Instinct, I guess. What you reading?"  
She laughed to herself, before lifting up the cover and showing him _Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)._

"Do you not think it's cute, how little we knew?"

"I think you're cute." He replied easily, and she just shook her head knowingly, trying not to smile.

"So, what are you doing with your last day?"  
"Well, I've just spent the last 2 hours wandering the halls. Literally."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah. Remember when I used to be cool?"  
She shook her head. "You were never cool." She teased.

"Cooler than you, geek." He replied, stealing her book jokily and pulling a face.

"Oh, mean." She whined, before standing up. "Shall we go find everyone else, then?"  
"In a minute." He walked towards her, and held her hands. "But there are a few things I want to do first…"

He kissed her, his hands resting on the small of her back.

"In the library, Mr Potter? You should be ashamed!" She joked.

"You clearly don't know what libraries were invented for…"

Half an hour or so later, James and Louisa returned to his dorm to find Fred, Anna, Roxy, Jamie and Dom sat around, with the stuff from under the bed just as scattered as it had been before.

"Hey, where did you go?" Fred asked, Anna's head leaning against his chest.

"Just wandered around." James shrugged, before sitting down on his bed and making Dom budge up to make room for Louisa.

"Oh, is that what they call it these days?" Anna joked.

They laughed, James looking out of the window at the sun and sighing.

"Is this really the way we should be spending our last day?" Roxy asked.

"Why not? It's the way we've spent most days here. May as well stick to what we know."

"Yeah, I guess."

James watched as they fell silent again; Louisa crossed her legs while Fred twisted Anna's hair. Roxy leant her head on Jamie's shoulder and his arm wrapped around her, while Dom just sighed.

"I need to tell you all something, because I trust you guys more than I trust myself sometimes." Dom eventually broke the silence, and all eyes turned to her. "I'm leaving."  
"We all are, school's over." Fred replied, dumbly.

"No. I'm leaving here. I'm leaving home. I'm leaving you."

"Where are you going to go?" Louisa asked, shuffling along the bed towards Dom, who was looking down at the floor.  
"France."

"Why are you going?" Roxy asked, as if this was all a personal insult to her.  
"There's nothing for me to stay for." Dom sighed. "Apart from you guys, of course, but you'll still be a part of my life once I've gone."

"Nothing to stay for? What do you mean?"  
"It's okay for you guys. You have each other. You're in love with someone who you can be with, and you're known for everything you want to be known for. In case you haven't noticed, I don't have the best reputation here. And it won't change when we leave school. I'll still be that blonde Weasley who got around a bit at Hogwarts. It won't be the same in France. If I stay near Beauxbatons then I'll even be ugly in comparison… Maybe I can find someone who'll love me for who I am, not for my surname or what I look like-"

"What do you mean that we love someone who we can be with? There is no one you can't get." Anna smiled, but Dom just shook her head.

"You'd be surprised."

No one knew what to say anymore; Dom had made her decision and they all just had to accept it. Not that James necessarily wanted to disagree with it; he understood exactly why she was doing it.

"Remember when we were little, and we always used to talk about what we'd do in the future?" Roxy said quietly. "Do you realise that 'the future' starts tomorrow?"  
They nodded, James internally debating whether to tell the others just how much he wished he would never have to leave. Then he realised there was no point saying it out loud; everyone agreed.

He didn't know how long they all sat there, saying goodbye to each other without actually speaking, before the bell rang. Normally, Fred and James would run to the door to get food, but this was one feast that they didn't want.

"Come on guys," Dom shrugged. "We can't put it off forever."  
And so, reluctantly, the seven of them left the safety of their dorm and went down to the final dinner in the great hall.

The last final dinner they would ever have.

…

To Al, the last feast of term was much like any other; Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup, Ravenclaw won the house cup; the Slytherin's booed and the Gryffindor's were the loudest table in the hall; McGonagall talked for too long and Al was sure that Professor Longbottom fell asleep; the food was delicious and the family fought over the treacle tart… For Al, it was just as it had been for the past six years.

He could tell it was different for his brother. For his brother, and his three cousins, and his brother's girlfriend and her best friend, and even Jamie Wrenshaw when he collected the House Cup… For them, it was the end. It was almost over. He could almost see the helplessness in their eyes; their wishes to turn back time, their fears of the future, mixed in with excitement at what might come next. It was different for the seventh years; for them it was the last time.

It made Al think of his last year; he wondered if he was going to end school as hated as he was right now. Sure, he'd worked things out with Scorpius and Rose, they didn't seem to care so much about what he did since they reunited, but almost the entire rest of the school hated him. Everyone knew what he'd done, no one seemed to care about his reasons.

Not that he'd even tried to explain to anyone. Somehow, he didn't think it was fair. He didn't think it would make a difference and he knew that if he mentioned some of the things Maddie said, she'd be even more hated than him; he still cared for her, and he didn't want that for her. So instead he took it all, willingly almost. Quietly, he'd come to the conclusion that a part of him was justified; that was all he really needed. He just ignored the hate, wondering if it would ever fade.

Now everyone was drunk, though, no one seemed to care.

The common room was packed; James and Fred had saved everything they had for the last party of the year, so people were queuing up outside to get in. Banners hung from the windows of the common room; people flew past on brooms, balanced them on the banners and climbed in. Fireworks constantly whizzed above their heads, Gryffindor colours mixed with the blue of Ravenclaw and black of Hufflepuff. Music boomed from the corner, while near the portrait hole a bar had been set up that was overflowing with every imaginable drink. No one could say that the Seventh years weren't going out in style.

Al sat in Weasley corner, laughing to himself as he watched James and Fred conga around the room. He was sure he was the only sober person for miles; he'd decided not to run the risk of what happened when he drunk.

Then the sofa next to him sank, and he turned to see Madeline looking at him, her eyes wide.

"Can we be friends?" She asked loudly, her words mixing only slightly, but not enough that Al didn't believe what she was saying.

"Why would you want that?" He replied, watching as Rose and Scorpius walked towards the two of them but then span back around quickly with awkward looks on their faces.

She sighed. "I noticed you haven't told anyone what I said that day. I know I apologised, but I still can't believe how insensitive I was and sometimes it's no wonder that-"  
"That's no excuse."

"No, it's not. But you did it when you were drunk. The first time you slept with me, you were drunk; that didn't mean anything either. It's almost the same thing and I…" Al just shrugged away her twisted logic, about to argue back, before she spoke again. "I just don't want to finish this year like this. It's been the most amazing year of my life, Al, and that's mostly down to you. Now I can either say it ended badly, or I can say that everything was fixed by the end of the year. I know which I'd rather-"  
"Maddie, I cheated on you."  
"But you loved me. And I loved you. And you're still going to be my friend, whether you like it or not. I'm keeping my eye on you, Albus Severus Potter, you're not cheating on anyone else while I'm in your life."

"You're just saying this because you're drunk."  
"No, Al. If I was that drunk, I'd be kissing you. I'm perfectly capable of sensible thought, and I would have said this before if you hadn't been avoiding me." She smiled simply, and Al searched her eyes for a hint of anything but honesty. He couldn't find it, so just smiled back, and then watched as she got up and walked away.

Was it just him, or was the air in the room suddenly a lot lighter?

Rose and Scorpius suddenly bounded into the seat Maddie had just exited, smiling.  
"All sorted?" Rose asked. Al just nodded, and Rose cheered. "Yay, now everyone's happy!"  
"Scorpius, don't let her drink any more." Lily instructed, sitting opposite them. Hugo and Louis flopped onto the other sofa simultaneously.

"Why can't I? James, Dom, Roxy and Fred are leaving and I'm sad!" Rose whined, Al resisting the urge to laugh.

"What are we going to do without the old ones telling us what to do?" Hugo asked, before Louis exclaimed "Who's going to throw all the parties?"

Then a thought came to Al. "Oh god, I just realised… I'm the oldest."

"You're the oldest? Oh god, we're screwed!" Scorpius joked, as Rose looked down at the floor.

"But they… They won't be here. It's going to be so different-"  
"It's going to be _weird_." Lily agreed.

Al found that realisation had washed over all of them at the same time, and suddenly they were all sat looking a little lost.

"Hey kids, what's going on in Weasley corner?" James suddenly appeared behind Lily, the other older Weasleys and Anna, Jamie and Louisa surrounding him.

"Yeah, what's with your faces? Who died?" Fred asked.

Lily just shook her head, turned around, and launched her arms around James' neck.

"We just realised that you guys actually aren't going to be here next year." Louis said sadly. "Which is weird because you've… You've always been here."

"Oh." Dom replied, sinking into the seat next to Louis. She reached out and took Louis' hand and then sighed. "Yeah, that's true. You guys are going to be here without us-"  
"Who's going to supervise the girls?" Fred joked, weakly, his arm wrapping around Anna comfortingly.

James suddenly stood up on the table in the centre of them, murmuring something about how there was no time like the present...

The music stopped abruptly with a flick of his wand, and Fred shushed the crowd as if he knew what was going on, before sitting down with the rest of the family in their corner.

"Hi guys, welcome to the last party of the year! Now, I know I'm not head boy or anything, so I shouldn't really make a speech, but hey, I'm famous so I'm sure you're all interested in what I have to say. I'm also sure that one of you will record this and put it in the prophet, but I can't help but not care at all, because I'm actually about to say something really important, so maybe it should go in the prophet." There was slight laughter at him, but Al knew he wasn't lying. "I just wanted to say that Hogwarts means everything to me, and I'll be really sad to leave it. You know, when I was little, my Dad used to tell me stories about how Hogwarts was the first home he'd ever known. Now, I have a home, and a family, and an entire life away from Hogwarts that I adore; but this school is still my home. It's a place where I can literally be whoever I want to be; I'm not just a surname anymore and that means everything to me. It means everything to my family, actually, and we owe so much to our school and our house for that. But more than I wanted to say thank you to school, I wanted to say thank you to my family. You know, you'd be surprised how much it sucks to be famous. Sure, we have money, and people want our autographs and beg to be our friends, but have you ever thought of how hard we have to try, to just work out who we are? Well I wanted to say how proud I am, because every single one of us is exactly who we want to be, despite our stupid bloody surnames. And maybe we're not perfect; I know I'm not, but we've proved we're human and somehow I think it's even better that way. And we've all helped each other to do it; to have our own lives, find our own loves and follow our hearts, without even having to say anything. Just by being there." James wasn't looking at a spot on the wall; his eyes were glancing between every member of the family as they smiled at each other. The girls had tears in their eyes; so did Fred, in fact. "God, I'm cheesy aren't I? But I'm going to carry on…. I also want to thank our little extended Hogwarts family. Jamie, Scorpius, Anna, Louisa… We all love you because you can see past the surnames and see who we are. We'll always appreciate that." He sighed, "And now we're leaving. And it feels like the end of something really special, which I'm sure everyone says at the end of the year. But we are special. We're the Potters and Weasleys, so you know what, screw it; it is the end of something special. And I feel like I need to commemorate it, somehow. So…" He jumped down, and reached his hand out to Al, who took it warily. James pulled him to the sofa opposite the fire, and then turned him around and gently pushed him down next to Fred into James' seat.

Some people actually gasped, while Fred just smiled understandingly and stood up too, gesturing for Rose and Scorpius to sit down. Dom moved, and Louis slid into her spot.

The seventh years ended up stood opposite them, smiling; Roxy and Anna sobbed and James laughed lightly. "Guess everyone better get used to the new Weasley corner!"

The other children began to cheer, and it echoed into Al's ears when it didn't stop. The cheers turned into chants of Potter or Weasley, and Rose snuggled into Scorpius' shoulder and sighed, while Louis and Hugo high fived each other. Lily smirked, and Al just squirmed but felt silently proud.

"You know what, no, it's too weird." James said loudly, before he launched himself back onto the sofa.

"Thank god." Fred agreed, also running and jumping, until eventually Al, Scorpius and Rose were buried under the seventh years.

And even though all Al could see was the black of his cousin's and brother's bodies, he could hear his family's laughter clearly through the noise. And he knew everything would be okay, long after they had all left Hogwarts.


	78. Goodbye

Hi guys! So, it's finally here… The last chapter.

I'm so amazed by, and so grateful for, the response to this story. The number of alerts, favourites, reviews and hits on this story is so unbelievably incredible; I could cry just thinking about it.  
The last lot of anonymous reviewers: __ _(Thanks for the review; your answers were really interesting), _Lexar _(Thanks for the review; you're about to see what'll happen to Anna and Fred), _Cass _(Thanks for your answers and I'm sorry for taking so long to update), _MEE _(Thank you so much for the review and I'm glad you like my couples. And aha, your question is totally going to be answered in this chapter but you have brilliant noticing skills!), _Cloudsong _(Sorry, your replies are deactivated so you can have a reply here. Thanks for the review and I love your answers! There will be a sequel; enjoy!), _SummerSellers _(Thanks so much for the review; I'm sorry I made you cry!), _L of S _(I'm glad you liked the story; thanks for reading it all.), _Purpleflower _(Thanks for the review; sorry I made you cry aswell!), _HP FAN _(Thanks for reviewing and thanks for your answers. I love your question; it was so flattering.), _HPfanatic _(Aw, thank you so much for the review!), _rednose _(This review was so awesome but so long; I wish I could reply to it properly. Thanks very much for it and your answers to the questions were interesting.), _sarahelizabeth2014 _(Thank you so much for your review it was so lovely and so kind!), _1234terces _(Dom will be happy eventually, I promise!) and _Secret1234 _(Thanks for your review and for your answers; sorry for making you cry as well!).  
To anyone else who has reviewed, hopefully you've all had replies. I'll try and reply to anyone I can who reviews this last chapter as well.

I hope this chapter lives up to all your expectations! I also hope to see you all back here very soon for the sequel, a preview to which I'll post any second now…

Thanks again, so much; I'll always be very grateful to you all. If any of you have tumblr, please follow me - flitwickslittlebrother. Author alert me, aswell, so you'll known when the sequel's posted!

**_Disclaimer: _**_I never have or never will own Harry Potter, his friends or anyone else associated with him. I owe this entire story to JK Rowling's universe; it's all hers._

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_**The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please  
**_**(Chapter Seventy Eight - Goodbye)**

Hugo, unlike almost everyone else in the family, was a good morning person. He, unlike Rose, had never set an alarm clock on fire because he didn't want to wake up. He'd never tied the bedcovers around himself like Louis. He wasn't addicted to coffee like Dom or Roxy, in an effort to stay awake…

He actually quite liked mornings.

He liked that it was quiet, and that the light wasn't too bright. He liked that sometimes you could hear the birds sing or even the centaurs in the forest. He wasn't like James or Al; he didn't pull the pillows over his ears to avoid the noise.

This morning, though, was somehow different. He wasn't sure if it was because he was a little hungover or a little drunk, or because he hadn't packed his trunk yet and he really couldn't be bothered, but today he really wanted to put off the be told, a part of him almost wanted to turn over and avoid the whole thing.

He didn't want to say goodbye.

It wasn't just that he was going to miss his cousins, although he really didn't want them to go anywhere, but he'd also miss the school.

Unlike everyone else in his family, he hadn't had a particularly eventful year. He hadn't fallen madly in love and he hadn't fallen out with anyone, he hadn't got anyone pregnant and he hadn't been cheated on. He'd barely worked, and he could remember everything he'd done while he was drunk.

Yeah, Hugo sometimes felt like the boring one of the family.

This year, though, unlike every other year, he'd decided that he didn't care. He didn't care that he was the quiet member of his family. He didn't care that he tended to sit on the side lines and watch as everyone else lived in the manic, drama filled world. He preferred it this way.

The only regret he had was that he hadn't yet fallen in love. He wasn't like Louis; he believed in love. He could see it in so many people; James, Fred, Roxy, Rose… He had no reason to doubt it existed. And he'd never admit it, but sometimes he was jealous. Sometimes he felt like a hopeless romantic, just without anyone to be romantic with. There weren't any girls he liked; that wasn't his fault…

He felt like he'd put it off for long enough, so forced himself to roll over and get out of his bed. The other boys in his dorm were still asleep, so he pulled the curtains around himself and cast the _muffilato_ charm so he could pack without causing havoc.

He tipped the contents of his trunk onto his bed, and then tried to sort it into some resemblance of order before he would pack it up again.

Halfway through his packing, though, his eyes caught the corner of a piece of paper.  
_Weasley and Potter children out of control at Hogwarts _still flashed at him.

He could still remember that argument, and that article, like it was yesterday. It was the only time he'd ever worried that his family was going to be irreparably broken into pieces.

And it was the moment that he'd finally realised that he didn't mind being the invisible one in the family; his name wasn't in the article once, and he knew that was exactly the way he liked it. He couldn't help but be proud of himself for that. It had caused some kind of revelation at the time; at first he'd been jealous that he wasn't even mentioned, then the reality of it had dawned on him as he saw his family's shame and upset. And then he'd been angry at himself for even wanting that kind of attention; he realised he didn't need to go looking for it because it would find them whether they wanted it or not. And he realised it was easier not to be a part of it, than to ever try and justify himself.

So, since then he'd just watched. He'd watched his cousins grow, more than they knew they had. It was interesting, he realised, when you tried to look at everything objectively and see it from the outsider's perspective. He'd seen them all change, some for the better and some for the worse, and felt himself changing with them.

He folded the paper up, and left it at the bottom of his trunk as a reminder.

Because after all, he might not be the smartest, coolest, funniest or hottest person in his family, but he had the weirdest name, and for now he was happy with things being just that simple.

…

Dominique Weasley loved her bed, and it wasn't just because she was a Weasley and she was lazy.

No, she loved it because it was the only thing that was entirely hers.

She'd never shared her bed at Hogwarts. The only person who'd ever been under her covers were herself, and her closest friends when she'd been upset or they'd needed her. That was exactly the way she liked it; it didn't feel tainted or scarred or dirty… It was just hers.

She didn't ever want to get back into her bed at home. The last time she'd been in that bed, she'd been with Teddy. Then she'd fled to the spare room at Roxy's house, with barely any explanation, and she hadn't been back in her room since. It didn't even feel like her own room anymore.

She liked that this room, here in Hogwarts, only had happy memories. She could only remember laughing with her friends here; sharing stories, getting ready together, panicked revising at midnight and cliché pillow fights…

She preferred it here, in her bed, in this room, to anywhere else in the world.

And she really, really didn't want to leave it.

But she knew, deep down, that once she'd gotten up and out of bed she'd be fine again. Because she wanted this. She wanted to leave; she wanted to get as far away from this reality as she could and find her own life. She wanted to be so much more than what she was, and she wanted it now. She felt like she'd waited long enough…

She just wanted two more minutes in bed first.

"Right, that's it, get up get up get up!" Anna announced, before Dom felt a body on her stomach.

Wriggling, she heard Louisa laugh and yell "I'll get the other one!" Then there was a shriek from Roxy's bed, before more laughter.

"Weasleys, we have put up with your horrific morning behaviour every day for the last seven years; it finished today. Get up, up, up!" Anna commanded, jumping up and pulling the covers off Dom.

Dom just smirked, before standing up energetically and making her best friend jump.

_No time like the present, _she told herself.

"Oh, well, that'll do." Anna smiled, before they both turned on Roxy's bed and jumped on top of Louisa.

"Ow, ow, ow- This is just mean, guys-"  
"No dear, the world is mean; we're just your best friends!"

"Besides, I doubt Jamie's going to put up with you every morning from now on-"  
"Though heaven knows how he plans on waking you up!"

Giggling, the four of them shuffled, until they were all sat up on the bed. Their fingers had somehow become laced together, and Dom just sighed.

"Wow, it's actually our last day." Louisa said quietly.

Roxy nodded. "I really love you guys, you know-"

Dom turned and saw that her cousin's eyes were full of tears. "Oh god, we can't start crying this early; we'll never stop!"

"Sorry." Roxy sniffed. "I just can't believe that it's-"  
"It's over."

Louisa began to sob first, before Roxy gave in and giggled a little at the same time. Anna and Dom raised their eyebrows at each other sarcastically, through tear-blurred eyes, before crying too. And then the four of them wrapped their arms around each other, hugging with their knees touching in the middle of the bed.

Dom may have never fallen in love with a boy, she realised, but she'd found the best love of all in her three best friends. And while she couldn't wait for her new life to begin, she still wanted them to be a part of it more than anything else…

"Guys, we can't just sit here and sob all day…" Roxy said sensibly, while Anna reached over and wiped her tears. Dom leant back, and looked at the three of them.

"I do love you guys though. More than I've ever loved anyone."

Anna laughed. "Don't tell Fred, but me too-"  
"Me too."

"James'd kill me but me too."  
Dom smiled. "Don't ever leave okay?"

"Nah, you're stuck with me forever." Anna joked, standing up. "Besides, if you haven't noticed, I kind of have a thing for Roxy's brother so I need to keep her close…"

They all laughed, standing and getting ready separately as they loudly reminisced.

"'_Anna, I think my brother's in love with you._'-" Louisa imitated what Roxy had said four years ago, as she undressed and pulled the clothes on top of her trunk on.  
"_'Oh dear god, no!_'" All four of them quoted at the same time, remembering the conversation in third year.

"Or there was the time that James was paying me to try and make you go out with him-"  
"Classy guy, he was."

"Well, he got you in the end-" Roxy replied, doing up her shirt.  
"Not by paying anyone!"  
"Yeah, that's what you think." Anna joked, before shutting the door to the bathroom hastily.

They laughed, and continued to laugh like little girls until they were all dressed in their school robes for the final time. Then they busied themselves with packing and tidying for the sake of it; none of them wanted to leave yet.

The four of them ended up stood by the door, in front of the mirror.

And for a moment Dom swore she saw the four little first years they'd been, drowned in their school robes and terrified of everything that was heading their way. Back when Roxy had thought of Louisa as competition and Dom had thought Anna was too much of a tomboy. Back when they didn't really know each other, and they barely knew themselves.

Tears were something that the four girls realised they wouldn't be able to avoid.

"I really love you three." Louisa sighed. "No matter what happens now, I love you."

"I love you too." Anna nodded, before the moment was ruined by the rumbling of her stomach. "Breakfast?" She laughed.

"It's not for another hour or so; it's late on the last day." Roxy laughed.

"Well, I'm sure Fred's found some food under his bed." Anna replied, before opening the door to the dorm. "Bye room!" She called dramatically, before walking down the stairs.

Louisa and Roxy followed, both of them looking around for a final time before leaving.

And then there was just Dom.

And she turned, and looked at her bed, and said goodbye to the girl who used to sleep in there. She was someone new now, and she could leave the other girl behind.

She shut the door to her old dorm without any kind of sadness or regrets; she was only excited for her future.

…

If someone had told Scorpius, even at the beginning of this year, that he would wake up with Rose Weasley in his arms he wouldn't have believed them no matter how many times they said it.

Because he used to dream of it.

He used to find himself watching her, and internally tell himself off for looking at his best friend like that. He used to tell himself to stop smiling at everything she said; when he woke up in the morning he didn't used to be able to look Al in the eyes, in case he'd be able to tell what he'd dreamt of.

Christmas evening of fourth year was the worst and best day of his life all rolled into one. Because he'd gotten everything he'd ever wanted and then thrown it away two minutes later because he was still a child and he was scared of her stupid cousins and brothers and… For years, he'd hated himself even more than usual. But he'd justified it to himself by saying she didn't feel the same way.

Then it turned out she did.

And now he was waking up with the girl of his dreams in his arms, and he still couldn't believe how lucky he was.

She wasn't awake. Her head was on his chest, and he was just smiling down at her and watching her sleep. She was dreaming; she would bite her lip every now and again or mumble to herself. Scorpius just smiled to himself and sighed.

There were no clocks in the Room of Requirement; no way to know that time was moving forward. But he knew it was, and he knew that the school year had to end sometime.

"Rose? Baby, wake up." He said quietly, running his hands through her hair softly.

She groaned, turning over and shaking her head.

"Babe, I know you hate mornings, but I don't know what time it is, and you don't want to miss breakfast so…"

Rose nodded, before her eyes fluttered open and locked with his.

"Morning." He said quietly, unable to remember how he was going to finish his earlier sentence.

"Hi." She replied, before sighing. "I don't want to get up."

"I know-"  
"And I don't want to grow up."

Scorpius just smiled, reaching down and linking his fingers with hers.

"I don't want to leave yet either; I don't want this year to be over. It's been our year."  
"Nothing's going to change."  
"That's not true; everything's going to change eventually."  
"Not you and me though."  
"No, never you and me." She shifted, turning over and sitting next to him. Scorpius sat up next to her, and he found his back ached; the sofas in the common room weren't the most comfortable things in the world to sleep on, even in the Room of Requirement. She turned and looked at him, before smiling. "I have something for you."

"What?"

"Your birthday present." She replied, before slipping off the sofa, picking his discarded shirt up off the floor and pulling it on.

"My birthday was four months ago-"

"And I never gave you your present." She smirked, before running up the stairs to her dorm room but continuing to talk loudly. "I wrapped it up here, then I hid it here after I forgot to give it to you for your birthday, and I can't believe I completely forgot until now…"

While she spoke, Scorpius stood up and pulled on his jeans, and when she resurfaced at the bottom of the stairs he raised his eyebrows at her. "You know, as hot as you look, I'm going to need my shirt back before we try to get back to the common room."

"We'll think about that in a minute. Come over here."

She skipped to the fireplace, smirking as she sat down where she'd been sat back in fourth year. They'd sat there a lot in the past year, as if kissing there for all it was worth made up for what had happened back then. It didn't, of course, but they still smirked at each other every time they sat down and the mistletoe twisted around them. Scorpius told himself, though, that somehow he was one day going to make up for what happened two years ago.

He sat down opposite his girlfriend, and she held out his present to him. He took it, looking down and thinking how suspiciously it looked like a book.

"I hope you like it."

He unwrapped it, to see a blank book that had no title or cover. He opened it, to see that every page was blank.

"What is it?" He asked dumbly.

She smirked, before reaching behind her and holding out a similar book. She passed a quill to him, and he wrote confusedly.

_Hello?_

Nothing happened, but he looked up and saw Rose writing too.

_Hi, Scorp. I love you. _

Appeared under his writing, and suddenly Scorpius understood.

"Now we can write notes to each other whenever we like. And keep them. We could look back on them in couple of years and… Laugh, I guess."  
He smiled. "This is creepily like-"  
"The horcrux, I know. But it's not. It's ours."  
"It's brilliant, I love it, Rose."

"Yeah, well that's not all."

Scorpius pulled a face, and Rose just smiled.

"Close your eyes." She teased, and he did so. Then she pulled his hand towards her and placed something small, and metal in his palm. "This one's more for Summer, not for your birthday. And it's not just from me; it's from Al and his parents and my parents too-"  
"Wait, what?" His eyes snapped open, and he stared down at his hand.

Two keys sat on his palm, reflecting the firelight at him dimly.

"We don't want you on your own this summer, Scorp, so you can visit whenever you like. And sure, we never lock our door, but the keys are just kind of symbolic to show that you can apparate over any time."  
He didn't know what to say. He just stared down, and blinked.

"You do like it, right?"

He just carried on staring, because really he wasn't sure it was real. No one had ever said he could come over anytime he liked. Even going his parents; he'd always have to tell them in advance if he was going home.

He'd never known what it felt like to be part of a family, really, until that moment.

God, and now he had tears in his eyes and he still hadn't said anything to Rose and she looked worried and…

"I love it. I love you." A tear dripped from his eye and he absolutely hated how pathetic he must've looked, but Rose just smiled at him and took his hands. "This means so much to me."

"I know. We mean it, you know. You're welcome whenever; I'll be upset if I don't see you."  
"You won't be able to get rid of me."  
"Oh God, that's what Al was afraid of!" she teased, before leaning over and kissing him softly. Moments later she stood up, and pulled him up to her level. "We need to get going, though. I refuse to miss breakfast!"

She moved to the pile of clothes, and took Scorpius' shirt off and replaced it with her own.

He smiled, catching his shirt when she threw it at him.

Once they were dressed, they headed out of the door and started to walk down the corridor, their hands linked. "You know, I really wish you'd given me these last night." He told her, before putting the keys in his pocket.  
"Why?"  
"Because then I'd be able to say thank you properly." He winked.

"Well, you should use those keys and stay over at mine tonight."

"With your Dad in the house? Do you think I want to die?"

She just laughed, and they smiled knowingly at each other as they continued towards the common room.

They walked inside, the portrait hole smiling at them, and found Rose's family sat in their corner, laughing and smiling at each other.

"Hey! Wearing the same clothes as last night? God, that's awkward." Fred joked. Rose just shrugged, and sat down.

Scorpius stopped for a second and looked at them, because he realised how automatic it was for him to sit down and for him to talk to them easily.

The realisation dawned on him that he did know what it was like to be in a family, because they were all sat in front of him.

He didn't think of them as Rose's anymore; they were his as well.

He belonged here, with them. And if someone had told him this time last year that he'd end the year with his hand interlinked with Rose, laughing with her family, he wouldn't have believed them. But he was so grateful that he was.

…

Roxy remembered the first day of school this year. She'd stood outside the headmistress' office with Craig, and they'd talked about how perfect everything was going to be with the two of them ruling the school together.

Things had changed since then.

Now she was still stood outside the headmistress' office, but her dreams of ruling the school were gone. And she wasn't looking for perfection anymore; she'd learnt that sometimes things were even better when they were a little flawed.

"I don't want to give this back." Louisa sighed, turning the head girl badge over in her hand.

"I know, me neither." Roxy murmured, before undoing hers sadly.

"I got used to having this on." Craig laughed, and Roxy turned and smiled at him.

She knew, just as he did, that the two of them weren't going to speak again. She was glad of it, in fact, because he was a part of her life that she really just wanted to forget.

"You can enter now." The gargoyle by the door to the office said, before the door swung open.

Roxy sighed, and watched as Craig went inside. She and Louisa smiled at each other, before linking hands quickly.

Professor McGonagall sat at the desk, smiling at them kindly. "If you could just put your badges on the table?"

The three of them did so, before sitting at the three chairs opposite the desk. Roxy couldn't help but look longingly at the little piece of metal on the desk, wishing she could reach out and put it back in her pocket.

"I don't imagine we'll need two head girl badges again next year." McGonagall smiled, "I must say, this year has been unlike any other. The three of you have been an excellent asset to the school; despite some of your personal discretions you've still been able to be professional and keep up your excellent academic profiles. Thank you very much; I imagine it'll be very difficult to find someone to replace the three of you. I wish you all the best of luck in the future."

"Thank you, professor."

"Louisa, call me Minerva. From today onwards, you're no longer students, and I'm not your headmistress anymore. "  
It was weird, Roxy realised, to hear the headmistress call Louisa anything other than Miss Hall. It freaked Roxy out a little that they'd suddenly turned from Miss Weasley, Miss Hall and Mr Cunningham to Roxanne, Louisa and Craig. She thought it might be the first time of many that she realised she was a real grown up now.

"Now, I imagine you all want to spend your last few minutes before breakfast with your friends and family, but I'd like to ask you of one more duty before you leave. As tradition dictates, I wanted to ask who you would recommend as next years' head boy and girl."  
Roxy just turned and smiled at Louisa knowingly. She was just about to speak when Craig beat her to it-

"Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley. Without a doubt."

Roxy smiled at him gratefully, before turning back to her headmistress. "I agree, they'd be perfect-"  
"Absolutely."

McGonagall just nodded, before smiling. "I have to admit I agree with the three of you. Although, I would recommend you don't tell them yet, since it might spoil the surprise when they get their owl in Summer."  
Roxy smiled widely.

"And so," McGonagall continued, "You are now officially no longer head girls and boy. Thank you very much for your contribution to the school; Hogwarts will always be here for you."

After cautiously glancing at each other, the three of them stood up.

Craig and Louisa left first, before Roxy heard her name slip from McGonagall's mouth.

"Yes, professor?"

"Minerva, please. Roxanne, I thought it might interest you to know that I don't always listen to the recommendations of the previous heads."  
Roxy just blinked back.

"Because last year, Jamie Wrenshaw was recommended to me. For some reason that even I personally don't understand, I ignored that, but I do regret it a little. I think he's going to make just as much of a difference to the Wizarding World as you and Louisa are. And Mr Cunningham, of course."

Roxy nodded, her professor looking back at her intently. "Thank you for telling me, Prof- Minerva. I'll see you at breakfast."

And, smiling to herself, Roxy left the headmistress' office with one last longing look at her old head girl's badge.

She walked down the corridor with her head held high. She couldn't help but smile. She couldn't help but look forward to tomorrow and every other day of her future…

"Hey."

Roxy jumped, turning. "God, Jamie, you scared me."

He looked back apologetically, before she bounded towards him and put her arms around him.

"I just found out something that'll make you smile." She said quietly into his ear, before leaning back a little.

"What?" He asked, his nose just inches from hers.

"You were almost head boy last year. Professor McGonagall pretty much just told me that she wished she'd chosen you."

"Oh." He nodded. "That's quite cool."  
"I wish she had chosen you back then. Or, you know, I wish I'd told you how I felt or-"  
"How often have we had this conversation?"  
"A lot." Roxy sighed, looking at the floor. "I have a lot of regrets where you're concerned."

"I know, I do too." He rested his hand on her chin, and made him look up at her again. "But it all worked out; we're together now. So I'm making a rule; in our new flat, we're not allowed to wish we could change what happened. Us living together is about the future and us now, not our past."  
She nodded, before he leant down and kissed her softly.

"I still can't believe I get to live with you. I get to wake up with you every morning and fall asleep with you every night..." He smiled. "I may need you to pinch me every now and again to remind me I'm not dreaming."  
"I promise I will." She replied. "You might have to pinch me back sometimes."  
"Or I could tickle you." He replied, before he did just as he threatened. As Roxy bent over, laughing and swatting him away, Jamie just smirked. "Who said we're growing up, eh?" He joked as he stopped tickling her. She just smiled, before standing up straight and putting her arms back around his neck.

"I love you, Jamie Wrenshaw."  
"I love you too, Roxanne Weasley."

Roxy replied without thinking. "I'll be Roxanne Wrenshaw one day."

She'd never been more certain of anything before.

She had no reason to be scared of her future, because her future was standing right in front of her.

…

Louis Weasley was the last person from his family to come downstairs. The rest of them were all sat, curled up in the seats they'd sat in all year, not saying very much to each other; they just kind of looked up at each other wistfully and sighed every now and again.

Louis just shrugged, thinking about how irritatingly emotional his family were sometimes.

The rest of the common room was, of course, buzzing with excitement about the summer to come, and for a moment Louis considered sitting and chatting with the more entertaining people in his year instead of moping with his family…

That was until Dom walked over and pulled him way from the bottom of the stairs and into the nearest corner.

"Hey." Was all she said, while Louis just looked back at her confusedly.

"Hi? Do you have a reason for yanking my arm out of it's socket?"

"I just wanted to say bye, that's all-"  
"Okay, bye." Louis shrugged, before trying to walk away before she yanked his arm again.

"You're the last of us left." She said sadly.  
"No I'm not; they're all over there." Louis replied, raising his eyebrows at his sister. People said he was the stupid one…

"No. You're the last of us." Louis just shook his head. "Us." She said again. "Victoire, me and you. You're going to be the only one left."

"Oh." Louis nodded, understanding hitting him a little horribly. "That'll be weird."  
"Yeah, it will."

He rocked on his feet, looking up at his sister. "So, any advice?" He joked, before a serious look crossed her face and Louis internally groaned.

"You and I are really similar, you know that?"  
"Eugh, I'm nothing like you!" Louis attempted, before Dom raised her eyebrows and Louis sighed. "Yeah, I know." He admitted.

"Look, I'm really glad you're happy, but Lou one day you're going to find a girl who makes all of this sleeping around seem worthless, do you know that? And if you can have them, then you're lucky, but if not then it's going to eat away at you. You're going to start looking back to now and wishing you could still be so carefree-"  
"So, wait, are you telling me to stop or carry on?" He asked, confused.  
"I'm just telling you to live. When you fall for someone, please don't waste your time wishing you could have them. Either go and get them, or get over them. Please."

"Sis..." He wasn't sure what he wanted to say to her, but he knew there was something she needed to hear.

He also knew he was likely to say the wrong thing.

"Do you have to go to France?" He asked, sighing a little. She blinked down at him, before ruffling his hair a little. "Only, I'll miss you. You're the only one who gets it."  
"Gets what?"  
"It. You get what it's like to be us. You're right; you and me, we're the same."

"I know we are. I've just stopped thinking that being us is a good thing."  
"So that's why you're going to France? To change?"  
"I already have changed, I just can't be the person I want to be here. I'm going there to be true to myself."  
"But I don't think I'm lying to myself."  
"Maybe you're not, but I was."

Louis just nodded, before looking up at his sister again. "I'll really miss you. You're my favourite sister."  
"And you're my favourite brother."  
"I'm your only brother!"  
"Oh, well, what a shame." She joked, and they both looked up at each other and smirked, silently agreeing that the serious conversations were over.

She just nodded, before pulling him into a hug. He sighed onto her shoulder and cursed being shorter than her, then they both let go and headed back to the family without another word.

Louis sat down in Weasley corner next to Jake, who was quietly playing cards with Hugo. He blinked for a second and looked at his best friend, and thought about how quiet Jake had been with the family at the beginning of the year, and how comfortable he looked now. He was almost proud of his friend.

In fact, he was proud everyone in the corner; all of his family. The four seventh years had so much to show for their time at Hogwarts. James had been Quidditch captain, Roxy had been head girl and Dom and Fred were legends. When Rose and Al left next year, Al would leave with an amazing Quidditch reputation and Rose would leave with brilliant grades…

What did Louis have to be proud of? What had he achieved? He had rubbish results, no Quidditch reputation…

He did, however, have a faultless girl reputation, and he was happy with being remembered for that. Sure, it might not mean anything to the real world, but he was still proud of it.

He smirked to himself, looking around the common room and thinking of all the girls he'd had in this year alone.

Then he saw a girl across the room who threatened to ruin his flawless history.

Lucy bloody Brown.

There wasn't a chance of him leaving Hogwarts for the summer this way.  
He stood up, and strode towards her, ignoring the family's questions of "Louis, what are you doing?"

"Oi, Brown." He said loudly. The room hushed as she turned around, her hair swishing gracefully behind her.

"What do you-?"  
He pressed his lips to hers, resting his hand on the small of her back so she couldn't pull away. But she didn't pull away; she didn't even squirm. The room was filled with wolf whistles and boys cheering for Louis, but he could barely hear it since his brain seemed to be blocking out all outside noise...

He pulled away from her, smirking.

For a second, she just blinked, before the frown returned to her face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He just shrugged, before walking away "I'll see you next year!" he yelled over his shoulder, before winking.

He sat down next to Jake, who just turned to him and raised his eyebrows.  
"What the hell did you just do?" Rose asked, shaking her head while everyone else stared.

"Never let it be said there's a girl I can't get." Louis replied, to which most of them just laughed incredulously.

"You're a loser." Jake stated.

"I agree." Lily nodded.

Then Louis just watched as Jake looked up and smiled at Lily, who smiled back before they both looked at the floor.

And then he just smiled to himself. Because it didn't look like that much was going to change between this year and next year.

The common room wouldn't change. Rose, Scorpius, Al, Jake, Hugo and Lily weren't going anywhere. Louis would still be able to have every girl he wanted. There would still be Lily and Jake drama. Hugo and Al would still claim Quidditch was the best game in the world… Louis would still tell them they were wrong.

For all everyone else worried about the future, Louis didn't care. He just cared about right now. And right now, Louis had just kissed Lucy Brown and felt on top of the world.

…

Rose tilted her head, and snuggled a little more into Scorpius' shoulder. Their fingers were interlinked, and his thumb was softly running against hers.

She wasn't sad. She wasn't upset that her cousins were leaving or that it was the end of the year. She wasn't scared about the future and she wasn't worried about things changing. She was just… Thinking.

And Scorpius seemed to know. He seemed to understand that she didn't need comforting or talking, she just needed him.

Not that anyone else was really doing very much. They weren't chatting or laughing… Rose thought that they were just thinking too.

"Remember when you first got your letter to Hogwarts?" Fred said quietly, and all of them looked up and nodded.

"I remember waiting by the window for days, just looking for an owl." James nodded.

"When Vic got hers, Louis and I sulked for weeks."

"I remember that you told me I'd never get a letter." Al said, smirking up at his brother. "Then you hid my letter. Then you'd told me I'd be in Slytherin. Then you told me the hat had changed it's mind and I was in the wrong Common Room…"  
"Ha, yeah, I was funny back then." James joked, while Fred sniggered by his side.

"Yeah, you're boring these days." Louis shrugged, and they all laughed as James scowled.

"Hey, I'm still fun!" He said indignantly. Fred opened his mouth to reply, before Louisa, Roxy and Jamie came over and Roxy and Jamie settled next to the fire while Lou sat down next to James. "Hey, babe, tell them I'm still fun."  
"He's still fun." Louisa replied, deadpan, which just made them laugh a little more.

"How was the meeting?" Dom asked them, as James continued to scowl.

"Weird. I miss my badge." Louisa whined.

"Having said that, I'm not sure we'll be the last heads sat in this corner." Roxy spoke, and Rose glanced up to see her smirking down at her and Scorpius.

Rose couldn't help but look up at Scorpius and smile bashfully.

She didn't want to get her hopes up too much, but she couldn't help but think how brilliant it would be to share the head's dorm with Scorpius for a whole year…

"I love you." He said quietly into her hair, before he kissed the top of her head. She just snuggled further into his neck, and for a moment she wished with all her heart to be head girl next year, just a little bit.

No one else spoke; they fell into silence again just as easily as they'd fallen into conversation.

It was about ten minutes before the bell rang, and they all shifted uncomfortably.

"Guess it's breakfast time." Fred said, looking almost the saddest Rose had ever seen him.

"Thank god, I'm starving!" Louis said, jumping out of his seat before looking around confusedly when no one else was as enthusiastic. "Seriously, guys? You're even going to get upset about food-?"

"Time for our last ever meal at Hogwarts." Dom interrupted deliberately, annoying Louis. They all stood up slowly, and headed towards the door. Or, at least, Rose tried to but Scorpius didn't move.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, turning and looking down at him questioningly.

He wasn't looking at her, but straight ahead at the fireplace. "Um, just come over here for a second." He said, before standing up and pulling her towards the spot he'd been looking at.

"Scorpius, mate what are you doing?" Al asked, and Rose glanced over to see that all of her family were stood waiting by the portrait hole.

"Um, Scorp?"  
He stopped in front of the fireplace, before he put his hand on her chin and tilted her head towards him. Then he pressed his lips to hers softly, and when he pulled away Rose could barely breathe. For a second she didn't understand what was going through his head, until she realised exactly where she was stood and that her entire family's eyes were on her.

"Good god, did we really have to see that?" Fred asked, covering his eyes jokily.

Scorpius just nodded. "Yes, you really did have to see it." He nodded, and Rose just smiled up at him. "I love you." she said simply.

"I love you too."

It would have been a beautiful moment, if Hugo's stomach hadn't rumbled loudly behind them.

"Right, that's it, breakfast time!" James said loudly, "You can make out all you like in the heads' dorms next year but right now, we're hungry."

As if under his command, the family turned and headed towards the portrait hole together.

Scorpius slid his hand around her waist, and they started to walk together. "This time last year things we so different…" he said quietly into her ear.

"This has been the most amazing year of my life." Rose sighed. "Thank you."  
"It's not over yet."

"It'll never be over."

Rose wasn't sad, or upset, or even scared of the future. But she wasn't thinking anymore; she was just happy. Completely, and entirely, happy.

She was going to make sure it stayed that way.

…

Al and his family walked down the corridors slowly; he watched as his older brother looked around almost longingly.

"It's going to be weird not to have him around, isn't it?" Lily commented from his side, and Al just nodded.

"We've got to put up with him all Summer before anything really changes though." Al reasoned, and Lily nodded before looking up at him.

"Al?"  
"Yes Lils?"  
"When James is gone, are you going to take over looking after me? Because you don't need to."

"I do." Al told her, "We can't leave you to your own devices, heaven knows what you'd do."  
Lily just sighed, shaking her head.

"Besides, if I didn't keep my eye on you then James would kill me."

"That's true. Although, who's going to keep an eye on you?" She teased.

Al rolled his eyes. "I'm an adult."

"Sure."

She just smiled at him, before sighing as they continued down the stairs.

That was until Fred stopped suddenly and the other 12 of them nearly toppled down behind him.

"Fred, what're-?"  
Fred just swore, before turning and walking in the opposite direction to the Great Hall.

"We're already late; where are you going?"

When Fred didn't reply, Roxy just shrugged and followed him before the others followed. It was somewhat of an unspoken promise to each other that they were going to go to breakfast together this morning.

Fred had sped walked down the corridor, but then suddenly turned into a room and James laughed to himself in realisation.

"The boys toilets?" Anna asked, looking at the shut door. "What is he-?"  
James just smirked, before pushing the door open and walking inside. "Girls, if you'll excuse us?"

He held the door open and Al followed the rest of the guys inside.

And Al understood the second he heard explosions from one of the cubicles. He, Hugo, Jake, Scorpius and Louis burst into laughter while James and Jamie moved to help.

"I'm not clever enough to leave Hogwarts; I can't even get a bloody toilet seat off!" Fred complained, before there was another loud bang and Al found himself smirking again.

"Scorpius, you're clever-" James' head poked out of the cubicle.  
"Oi!" Al complained. "I'm clever-"  
"No, you're not." James stated, before turning back to Al's best friend. "Any ideas?"  
"Er…" Scorpius walked towards the cubicle, and Al followed for the sake of feeling important. The other three boys moved too; Jake and Louis stood on the toilet next door and looked over the divider while Hugo tried to squash himself into the door frame of the packed cubicle.

Al watched as Scorpius pulled his wand out and began to fire spells at the screws, before he looked up and sighed. "I've just realised how many rules I'm breaking-"

"Nobody cares!" Jamie replied, and Al found himself bursting into surprised laughter.

Once Al started, the others joined, laughing at a mixture of the bizarre situation and what Jamie had said.

"Right, guys, we may just have to do this the old fashioned way." Fred announced, once the laughter had died down.

"What's the old fashioned way?" Louis asked from above them, looking worried.

"We pull it off." James announced, before stretching his arms and kneeling down.

If Al had thought he was in a weird situation before, it got so much weirder moments later. Fred and James bent either side of the toilet and gripped the seat, then Jamie and Scorpius pulled on their arms. Al pulled Scorpius back while Louis pulled Jamie, and Hugo and Jake held them from behind. There was a chain of Weasleys and Potters going out of the cubicle and into the middle of the bathroom; Al had no idea how they would ever explain themselves if anyone came inside.

"Right, on the count of three." James yelled, his voice echoing around the cubicle. "One, two… three!"

Al felt fairly useless in the pulling chain; Scorpius was irritatingly stronger than him so was practically standing on his toes, while Hugo was weak so Al was avoiding falling backwards onto him.

"Don't give up, guys; do it for the Weasleys!" Fred said, his voice sounding strained.  
"What if we're not Weasleys?" Jamie replied.

"You will be someday, Wrenshaw." James' voice rang out. "You too, Malfoy, keep pulling."

They did so, and Al was sure that it was never going to work. After all, if magic wouldn't work how could muggle methods ever be successful?

Suddenly, though, there was a sharp clicking nose and the entire right hand side of the chain went flying backwards as the toilet seat screw loosened. This just meant that while that side tried to rearrange themselves, Al's side pulled harder.

With another click, the entire line fell backwards on to the floor, and Fred cheered triumphantly with a toilet seat in his hand. And then the boys started to laugh again, because it dawned on them that they'd just spent ten minutes stealing a toilet seat.

"God, I love my family." James smirked, before he stood up and helped Scorpius to his feet. Al picked himself up, before high fiving Fred triumphantly.

In the midst of the celebration and laughter, Al only just heard the bang on the door.  
"Boys, what the hell is going on in there?" Dom yelled loudly. Fred just skipped to the door, opened it, and held up his prize happily.

The girls just laughed, but Rose and Roxy crossed their arms. "You know, we're so late for breakfast."

The boys glanced at each other, before racing down the corridor, still laughing. The girls complained but chased after them, until they halted by the door. And Al noticed that suddenly everyone moved close to each other; Scorpius held Rose's hand while James put his arm around Louisa. Fred kissed the top of Anna's head and Roxy and Jamie linked fingers. Al, while he had no one, shuffled towards his little sister and smiled down at her.

Then Louis pushed the doors to the Great Hall open, and every head turned in their direction.

Al had never felt quite so famous before, but nor had he ever felt so powerful. Everyone was watching them, but not one of them seemed to care. They all had each other; they were all strong.

"It's nice of you to join us." The headmistress said from the end of the hall, clearly halfway through her speech. Al may have hallucinated, but he could swear that she was smirking a little.

Wordlessly, they walked down the aisle to their seats; Fred slipped the toilet seat out from under his shirt and put it on the table in front of them… And then they laughed. All of them just laughed to themselves, for once not caring how disrespectful it may be or how weird they may look. They just laughed, and everyone else watched them and looked confused.

And in that moment Al came to the realisation that he didn't really need a girlfriend. He didn't been really need friends. As long as he had his family, he would be okay. They were one group of people he was never going to betray.

…

James gripped Louisa's hand tightly under the table, as if he was scared of letting go. Truth be told, he was. He was so scared of letting her go of everything he had right now.

Because right now, he had everything he ever wanted; security, love, family, friends and a toilet seat… And he felt like the second they left school he would lose it all. He'd be out in the real world, his family would go their separate ways for the summer and then forever, Fred and Roxy and Dom would have a life away from him soon and, well, Fred was going to give the toilet seat to George.

And then there was Louisa.

Until this morning, James was sure that he and Louisa were the only thing that were going to stay still while everything moved around them. But then he'd talked to Fred, and he suddenly wasn't so sure anymore.

"_So, what's happening with you and Anna?" _James had asked as they packed.

_Fred just shrugged. "I don't know. We'll talk about it later, I guess. I'm just kind of hoping that I suddenly realise what to do." _

_James just nodded sympathetically. _

"_What about you and Louisa?" _

James had stopped suddenly then, dropping his pillow back on the bed and leaving it unmade. When he'd asked what Fred had meant, his best friend had simply shrugged and said "_Well, Anna might be going the furthest, but everyone's planning on moving away, so what happens to you two?" _And then James had realised that he had no idea.

For all he and Louisa had talked about their faraway futures and spending forever together, he had no idea what was going to happen to them now. They hadn't talked about it; did that mean that James wasn't really in Louisa's future at all?

"That's so true." Louisa said quietly, leaning her head on his shoulder and commenting on whatever the headmistress had just said. James just nodded dumbly, before looking up to see that the other seventh years were all watching McGonagall with tears in their eyes.

He looked up too and tried to concentrate. "A famous headmaster once said '_It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live', _and I hope you all bear this in mind whether you are coming back in September or not. You shouldn't let your hopes, dreams or fears about the future suffocate your present; you should remember to live every moment to it's fullest. Those of you who are leaving, I wish you all the best of luck. Remember; '_Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it' _whether you're a pupil or not. Have a wonderful summer, and enjoy your breakfast."

Food appeared on the tables, but for once James and his family didn't launch themselves for it. Instead they just sat and stared ahead, as if not moving would hold time back.

"Wow, this is our last meal at Hogwarts… How weird." Dom sighed, before picking up a piece of toast and buttering it.

Everyone else nodded, reaching for their own breakfasts.

"At least Jamie can cook or heaven knows how I'd survive off Dad's cooking!" Roxy smiled.

"Oh dear god, Dad's cooking." Hugo groaned, and Rose just laughed, before turning to Scorpius and commenting that he should cook for them one night.

James was struggling to eat with one hand all the while, his other hand clasped with Louisa's and refusing to let go.

They ate and joked about the Summer; insulting their parents and each other in equal measure. But James couldn't concentrate, and when he'd finished his bacon sandwich he turned to his girlfriend and sighed.

"Can I speak to you alone for a minute?"  
She looked worried, and bit her lip before replying. "Y-yeah sure."

They stood up, and James ignored the confused or worried looks from his cousins as they left into the corridor that was streamed with sunlight.

"What's going on?"  
"You tell me." James replied, and Louisa just blinked back confusedly.

"What?"  
"What happens now? With us? Everyone else is either moving in together or breaking up and I-"

"I don't want either of those things." Louisa stated simply.

James just nodded, unsure how he was meant to take that. Louisa sighed, before continuing. "I just mean that… I don't want to mess us up by doing anything stupid. We've not been together properly for as long as Jamie and Roxy or Fred and Anna and I just think that if we rushed then we might regret it…"

"That makes sense." James agreed, trying to ignore the doubt that crossed his mind; how would the two of them stay together if they lived far apart?

"James Sirius Potter, I love you." She smiled, and somehow James' mind shut up as he nodded. "And I want us to stay together for as long as we can, and I think the best way we can survive is by not rushing."  
"I love you too." Was all James could reply; because what else could he say? She'd made his mind up and he agreed with it entirely. When he thought of it, right now he might want to live with his girlfriend, but he wanted to be married to her in ten years even more. "Do you think we should go back inside?"  
"Maybe." She replied, before smirking and squeezing his hands tighter. "But there's something else I want to do first."

Then she kissed him, pressing herself up against his body and making him pace backwards until he was leaving against the wall with his hands holding her hips. She whispered his name and it echoed around the corridor; James thought it was the most beautiful noise he'd ever heard.

"I'll miss this, so much." She said quietly, her hands resting around his neck.

"Me too. But we have so many new places to be, new memories to make, that I think I'm ready to leave now. Because you're leaving with me."

She smiled widely, before her hands fell to his hands again and they walked towards the door without another word. They were greeted by a crowd of teenagers, though, who ran down the corridor towards the doors, cheering that summer had finally arrived. James and Louisa stood to the side, waiting for his family, who unsurprisingly left last.

"Done '_speaking'_?" Al teased, laughing.

"Yeah, we have actually, Severus." James replied, easily, putting his arm over Louisa's shoulder. "Ready to leave?"  
"As long as you're leaving with me." She smiled in reply, before they followed the rest of the family out towards the doors, and James swore the sun shone a little brighter than usual on them.

He decided he was ready to let go of Hogwarts, as painful as it was. Letting go didn't ever mean that the memories had to fade, and it didn't mean he couldn't make new memories. As terrified as he was, the future was coming and there was nothing he could do to stop it; he thought the future may as well start today.

…

Fred swore that the walk towards the Hogwarts gates didn't normally take this long. Maybe it was because everyone kept stopping to turn and look at the castle, or because they were all deliberately dragging their feet, but it felt like it took hours to get to the gates, and almost a day to get into the queue for carriages. Then Fred swore it took almost an entire year for his family to organise themselves into seats; the sixth years took one carriage while the younger ones took another. Then Roxy, Jamie, Louisa, James and Dom climbed into the other carriage, and Fred was stuck, alone, in a carriage with his girlfriend. A girlfriend he'd hardly spoke to since she announced she was leaving the country.

To avoid, Fred found himself turning around when the carriage moved, watching as the castle got further and further away, taking his childhood with it.

When they turned a corner, the carriage leaned, and Fred slid further towards Anna. Their fingertips touched for a second, and Fred turned and looked at her in the eyes.

And then he couldn't look anywhere else.

"We need to talk, don't we?"

"I wish we didn't." Fred sighed, "But yeah, we do."  
They turned another corner, and Hogsmeade and the Hogwarts express came into view.

And the memory of the day Fred realised he truly loved Anna came flooding back into his brain, fizzing down to his fingertips until they clasped onto hers. In fifth year, he'd walked her down to the station before Christmas, and she'd just been about to get onto the train when Fred realised he didn't want to let her go; he never wanted to let her go.

He still didn't ever want to let her go.

"You should go to Australia." He told her, before wanting to stab himself when he saw tears fill her eyes.

"Oh, okay." She replied, looking to the floor and pulling her hand from his.

"But I want to come with you."

She looked up, her eyes wide, but filling with tears even more. "Really?"  
"I don't ever want to be without you. Ever. And if that means I have to follow you to the other side of the world then I will. Because I want you to be happy, but I want to be happy too. And the only way I'll truly be happy is with you."  
"But Fred, the shop-"  
"I'll franchise it over there. Australia has heard of the Weasleys, hasn't it?"

"Everyone's heard of the Weasleys." She smirked, before she put her arms round his neck and hugged him. "And you're sure? Because I can stay and-"  
"I'm sure. I love you."

"I love you so much."

And then Fred swore that time went too quickly; the two of them barely kissed before they arrived at the station and were greeted by his waiting family.

It turned out that Anna wasn't the only person that had cried on the carriage ride away; Louisa's head was buried into James' shoulder and Roxy was sobbing with Dom. Rose and Lily were biting their lips with tear filled eyes, while Al, Louis and Hugo crossed their arms and stood awkwardly still.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" James asked, as the twelve of them slowly walked towards the train. Louisa and Anna had joined Roxy and Dom and were now holding hands as they walked.

Fred just nodded, unsure of what else to do.

"I knew you would." James shrugged, before he sighed. "I just really don't want you to go. You're the only person that's not changed since I met you. You've always been here for me, Fred and I don't know what I'm going to do now-"  
"I'm still here, J. You won't lose me."

They'd stopped walking, at some point, and now they seemed to launch themselves into a hug.

"You two know that cousins can legally get married these days, don't you?" Al commented from behind them, and James turned and glared.

"Oh please, you and Scorpius have the biggest bromance going; Fred and I could never compete."

"I dunno, James, we have known each other for longer-" Fred teased, and James laughed.  
"But Al's and Scorpius' love is like Romeo and Juliet; Potter and Malfoy were never meant to be friends, but destiny took control-"  
"Oh, shut up." Al complained, before stomping away.

"Some things just won't change, Potter." Fred said, turning to James. "And you and me is one of them."

They smiled at each other, before both clearing their throats as they realised how soppy they sounded. Fred turned to his girlfriend and linked fingers with her as they stopped by the train.

"Ready to get on board?" Fred asked, and she just nodded.

And as always with the two of them, they were first to take the step into their futures. Fred helped Anna climb onto the train and everyone else followed.

And in that moment, Fred realised that he could do almost anything as long as he wasn't alone. For as long as he had his family, and friends, and Anna; he felt almost invincible.

…

Lily had possibly never been so uncomfortable in her life. With her face pressed up against the window and her family squashing themselves against her she could barely see Hogsmeade or Hogwarts as they pulled away from the station.

Unlike at the beginning of the year, though, when everyone had left once there was nothing more to see, this time her family stayed right beside her. They sunk into the seats, not caring how cramped they were; girlfriends sat on boyfriends' knees and Louis and Jake stood and leant against the shut door. The fourteen of them squashed up and sat there, without saying a word to each other. Lily felt her eldest brother's hand slip into hers, and turned and smiled at him, too see that his eyes were clouded in tears.

She remembered the beginning of the year, when James had only spent time with her out of sympathy, and had noticed she was around; when he'd asked Louis to keep an eye on her while he went away to stalk Louisa a little more… Lily hadn't felt like she belonged in her family…

Nowadays she realised that they needed her. They needed her to look after; they needed to worry about her as a group because she was the baby of the family. They needed to feel like they could fix some of their mistakes of their younger days through her, and for now Lily was happy to let them.

She'd decided, though, that next year she wasn't going to be the same girl. In the last few weeks she had just taste of what she could be, and now there wouldn't be as many people to boss her about she'd decided to reach her full potential.

Lily had decided she was going to be the most legendary Potter in History, by combining every single one of her family's traits; Roxy's independence, Dom's beauty, Fred's trouble-making streak and James' power; Rose's self-belief and Al's Quidditch abilities; Louis' people skills and Hugo's humour... She swore to herself that she was going to be unstoppable.

She knew it was all mainly out of rebellion, but part of her like that; she liked that her cousins and brothers would despair at her when they saw her change, but part of her thought that it would teach them something; that there are some people they can't control.

She loved them, of course she did, and her plans weren't out of spite; she just wanted to be herself, without their influence over her. She wanted them to watch her in awe for a change.

She was knocked out of her thoughts and plans by a knock on the door. For a second, they all just looked at each other in confusion. Louis even counted them up on his fingers before he slid the door open.

"Sorry, um, excuse me…" A Hufflepuff girl Lily recognised from seventh year poked her head around the door. She bit her lip nervously, before she stepped forward awkwardly as if someone had pushed her. "I- um, I'm really sorry for disturbing your last day but, er, since we're not in school anymore I was just wondering if I could maybe have your autograph?"

James laughed, as the girl pulled a notebook and pen from behind her back.

"It's just that there aren't many people who can say they went to school with Potters and Weasleys and I just wanted proof so-"  
"Sure, Jane." Roxy nodded, before taking the paper from the girl and scribbling a message. The girl, Jane, smiled gratefully as Roxy passed the book to Dom who was sat next to her.

"Thank you so much. I really do think you guys are awesome. I mean, the things your parents have done are brilliant but you just deal with everything so well and-"  
"Wait!" The door slid open with force, and another seventh year Hufflepuff boy stood outside the compartment. "Jane, did they say yes?"  
"Yeah, we did." James replied, as the book was handed to him. He signed it quickly before handing it to Lily, who stared down at the page before writing her name as neatly as she could.

"Look, I know it's really rude, but my Mum's been nagging me for years; could you just sign this as well?" He rummaged in his pocket and ended up pulling out an old copy of the prophet, which Roxy smiled and took without saying another word.

"Wow, thanks so much!" The other boy said excitedly, before turning to the girl and smiling disbelievingly. "This is so awesome-"

"Please, Dan, I've been copying your Herbology homework for seven years, it's the least I can do." Dom smiled, before bending down, kissing the paper and signing underneath her lipstick mark. The rest of them just laughed, before the paper was passed around in the same way. Rose passed it to Hugo, before the Hufflepuff boy spoke again.

"Malfoy, can you sign it too?" he asked, to which Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

"Why?"  
"Well, I mean, you're famous too. Besides, my Mum always said that your Dad seemed like a nice boy who was just born into the wrong family. And you're definitely a good guy; you wouldn't hang out with these guys if not."

Lily just watched as Rose turned and smiled at Scorpius, who just smiled at the Hufflepuff gratefully before signing his name across the prophet as well.

Eventually, the paper got back to Dan, who jumped up and down a little and turned to his friend.

"Thanks so much, this is brilliant." The boy said, as the girl nodded.

"Listen, I know this is a lot to ask, but my little sister's like in love with you, Al, so could she come down and get a photo with you?" Al sat up straight and looked proud as the rest of the Weasleys and Potters tried not to laugh.

"Yeah sure." Al smiled, and then the two Hufflepuffs smiled excitedly at each other before leaving the compartment.

Then the family were left entirely alone again, and they were silent for a moment, before suddenly they all burst into laughter at the same time.

"That was so weird." Al said loudly.  
"It's like how it was when we first arrived!" Roxy agreed.  
James just shook his head, smiling. "I guess we should start getting used to it again."

"Yeah, I mean, I know you guys are famous but sometimes I forget just how famous and… God that was so surreal." Louisa shook her head, and Anna and Jamie both nodded as if they agreed.

"Damn, everyone's always going to want a piece of my girlfriend." Jamie joked.

"Good thing I'm all yours then." Roxy replied, turning on his knee and pressing her lips to his.

Fred groaned, and was obviously just about to open his mouth with some kind of funny comment when there was a knock on the door.

A group of giggling Gryffindors from second year poked their head around the door.

"Excuse me, sorry, we heard you were giving out autographs?"

"Um, well-"

"Sure!" Louis interrupted his sister, before taking the books out of their hands and scribbling on the first one. As the girls turned and squealed at each other, Lily watched Al raise his eyebrows at their cousin.

"You realise their too young for you to sleep, don't you?" He said sarcastically.

Louis just shrugged. "Right now, yeah, but in ten years they'll be 23." He winked, as his sister shook her heads tiredly.

"Mate, that's-"  
"Can we get some pictures with you?" One of the girls asked loudly, before shuffling towards Louis with her camera. He just nodded, and they started to take pictures with him before moving around the compartment to the rest of them.

Seconds later, a boy poked his head around the door to their compartment. "Oh my god, it's true, you are signing autographs!" He yelled loudly, and Lily heard compartment doors slide open further down the carriage and footsteps towards them…

Lily and her family spent the rest of the train journey signing books and casts and brooms and shoes and shirts; they took photos with anyone who asked and there was a queue going down the carriage to get into the compartment.

They didn't complain; if anything Lily and her family enjoyed the distraction from going home. Lily thought it was quite fun actually; people scribbled down things she said and asked her to hug her brothers and cousins for photos.

She just found it weird that she'd been in school with these people for four years, and suddenly they seemed like entirely different people. She wondered if they normally held back around them, and were pleased that they could finally get their attention. She wondered how many of them boasted that they went to school with Potters or Weasleys, even if they'd never spoken to any of them… It felt weird, really; that was the only way she could describe it.

Two hours in and she was getting a little bored; she started to jazz up her signature with lightning bolts like her father's scar and her poses for photos became stupider and stupider. But then she glanced out of the door to see Jacob leaning against the side of the train and smiling at her. He winked and she stuck her tongue out at him; he smirked back before walking away.

Then she felt someone grab her hand, and Jake pulled her out of the compartment and next to the, now much shorter, queue.

"Lily, what are you doing?" he asked her, still holding her hand. She shrugged it off, before looking up and smiling at him innocently.  
"What do you mean?"

Jake sighed, frustratedly. "Why are you flirting with Spencer?"  
"Why do you care?"

"He's only after one thing!"

"Yeah, I know, Jake."

"What?" She just smirked before raising her eyebrows. "Why do you care so much, Jake?"

"Because, Lils I care about you." He spoke quietly, his eyes saying more than he really did. "What you're doing, the way you're acting, it scares me because it's not you, and you don't need to change."

"What if I already have changed?" She said equally as quietly as he did, but knowing she sounded more powerful.

"What?"

She stood on her tiptoes, putting her mouth next to his ear. "You weren't the only one to lose your virginity in fourth year." She whispered, finally confessing what she'd wanted to tell him for a while now. It was like some kind of revenge, for what he'd once done to her. It wasn't the same, she knew; he'd never done anything to intentionally hurt her, but she still felt like they were even.

"What? Lily-!" She covered his mouth with her hand.

She decided to take drastic action, because it was all she could do now really. "But it's our secret, okay? Well, mine, yours and Jacob's."

"Lily-" He started, and Lily felt bad for a second; because his eyes still looked vulnerable and for a second she remembered what the two have them had been like on top of that cliff and how innocent they'd been…

"Don't say anything to Louis." She told him, letting her hand fall and looking up at him again.

"Or what?"

She thought fast, the part of her brain that had been in charge when she'd yelled at Laura taking control again. "Or I'll tell my brother about the time you tried to force me to do things I didn't want, and then threatened to lie about me…"

"Lily that never happened-!"  
"Who are they more likely to believe?"

He didn't speak, he just nodded, before looking her up and down and shaking his head. "You're right. I don't know you at all." He sighed, before moving towards the door and back into the compartment. "Well I hope you're happy, Lily."

She stared after him for a moment, before breathing in deeply. Then she went back into the compartment and seeing that they were still signing the last few books, or letters or photos.

"You know, it's kind of cool, really." Hugo mumbled to Lily, "I mean, I couldn't handle it every day but it's quite nice to be adored for a little while."

Lily just smiled before glancing out of the window and noticing that the rolling hills of the countryside had turned into cities, and cities were turning into London.

"We're nearly there." She commented loudly, and James turned and looked out of the window.

"Yeah, you're right; right, no more autographs or anything, sorry guys!"

There were a few groans, but within moments everyone had left and they all flopped into their seats again.

"We really are the best family in the world." Fred sighed, and Lily just smiled to herself, because yes she loved her family and yes, she loved being a part of them. But she knew how much they needed her, when the truth was that right now all she felt she needed from them in return was the surname.


	79. Nobody Said It Was Easy Preview

Hey guys, so as I've said, I'll post the sequel as soon as possible!

It'll be ten chapters long, each chapter another year away from the end of this story and in a different character's perspective.

This is just a very small preview of what will be quite an epic sequel; have fun trying to match the characters to the quotes! Review and make your guesses!

* * *

_**Nobody Said It Was Easy - A Preview**_

"_They can't expel me; please don't let them expel me!"_

"_Will you marry me?"_

"_You're not the man of my dreams anymore."_

"_We can be a secret for as long as you want us to be." _

"_I can't do this any more! We're over."_

"_Yes, I'll move in with you."_

"_Promise me you'll never leave me."_

"_What am I meant to do now? My life is over!"_

"_Has anyone heard from her since she left?"_

"_Is that meant to surprise me?"_


End file.
